Alastair Upton, Chief Executive at the BluecoatWhat will we do? Well ‘all I want to do is tell you I love you’.

It is early Wednesday morning and I’ve got Wiley on YouTube  – and I’m already looking forward to the weekend.

Yesterday we agreed to open on Friday and sat down to see how to get the news out. 'Bluecoat burns' is front page but 'We're back' is only page 7. It will take many more positive stories to overcome the negative one that has now set the agenda.

 Staying closed for as short a period as possible is the first step in this; to stop the idea that we aren’t open being imbedded in people's minds. So, with a great line up of events already planned for this weekend, we set Friday as our target date and the staff and contractors have done everything they can to achieve it. It has been one hell of a week but we should make it.

 

On Friday we have Wiley the current number 5 with 'Wearing my Rolex' and big man in the Grime world with support act Chipmunk. The new exhibition 'Variable Capital' will open on Friday morning. The curators continued to hang the show even while the fireman were in and they have produced a powerful, thought provoking look at consumerism, the means of its production and consequences of its consumption. On Saturday it's Howard Marks, the writer with the biggest spliff, talking with Harry the Polis.

Having put out the fire and isolated the damaged area there was a major cleaning up exercise. We called for specialists and we got them but I was pleased to see the parking warden move the van on from outside the Bluecoat as their strap line, in huge letters down the van's side, is 'Fire, Flood, Filth and Blood'. It is not good for the business as normal message. But these guys can clean. There is a gang of 30 blokes who get in everywhere and even tell us they have a machine that sucks the oxygen out of rooms to clean the air and if you walk in when it is on it kills you. If Indiana Jones was a cleaner he would work for these guys.

 

It is amazing that a week ago we had no power, no water, no phones, no computers, no offices, no fire and security systems and a building that was partly wrecked with the rest full of soot. We might now only be in temporary offices and the areas that were devastated are still blackened and mangled but we are back.

The building can operate, the tenants are already in, the show is up, the gigs are on and the downstairs hub will now work as a bar as well as the espresso with teas added to the sandwiches, salads and soup.

 There is still a lot to do for Friday but now we need people to come and see if we are wearing our Rolex!