“It’s a constant battle to pay everything”

Jody Carrington is the general manager of Chatham music venue Poco Loco and project manager for the Intra Community Trust. Poco Loco is often cited as a positive when previous interviewees are asked about the Medway music scene, so Steven met Jody there to talk about running a venue in this economy, exactly what makes it a dive bar, and the upcoming IntraFest...

What is your official occupation?
I'm the general manager and event manager for Poco Loco, and I'm a project manager for Intra Community Trust.

Do you have any additional roles, paid or unpaid?
Yeah, I'm the director of Medway Pride.

We're in Poco Loco. First things first, why is it called Poco Loco?
Because we were a little crazy. Yeah, it's influenced by Spanish food and our general...

And why did you decide to open a Spanish food establishment? 
Actually my dad opened this side of the restaurant as Cafe Sol back in 1995. It was just this side that we're sitting in now. Funnily enough, this was the original Medway Observer newspaper. It's been our restaurant since 1995. 
We had a nightclub over the road, which I used to mainly run. 

Where was that? 
It was called Pulse. It was under the Gun Shop. That was me for my sins. 
Dad and I have always worked together. When that closed in 2007, I came back over to work in the family restaurant. I've worked here on and off for years. I think it was 2000 when dad got the other side, which is where the bar is, because it was a successful restaurant. He bought that side to expand and have a bar and more seating space. 
When I came over, we thought we can do some music here, and it went from one thing to the other really, and that's how music came here. 

Poco Loco is one of the few positive stories among modern Medway music venues. How much time does that take up?
It's not just me. It used to be just me, but life gets busier and busier, doesn't it? Now I have Olivia Tweedale with Hellbound Promotions. She does quite a lot of the booking now. We still work together closely, but she is younger than me and able to get out and about, go see gigs, and have her finger on the pulse. We started working together, collaborating, and she does a fab job, but we meet regularly, and we talk over what things we're going to book. Then there's other people involved, sound engineers, we have a whole team. We call it the Poco family. We're all passionate about what we do here.

Probably anything but pop will go at Poco

Is there a criterion for what type of music or artists will get to perform here? 
The one thing about Poco, which I found with the nightclub, is that although I really enjoyed it and I was obviously passionate about dance music through that time, it was pigeonholed. It was Friday night was drum and bass, and Saturday was hard house. Every week for eight years. 
When we started doing music here, I really didn't want to be pigeonholed like that, but we still have that connection to more alternative and underground music. I think probably anything but pop will go at Poco. We are a grassroots music venue and support local music. We try to keep it varied and not get stuck or overplay any one genre.

I've seen you describe it as a dive bar. Why? 
Yeah, dive bar is a term that came a lot from Olivia, really, but I think it does fit with Poco quite well. In the good sense, not in the bad.

What is the good sense? 
Well, I think somewhere that is a late-night place, the way that it looks, that vibe with the music and the drinks we do and the people that come here, I think it gives that feel of the American dive bar. But I think in London now, a lot of the places that you would perceive as dive bars, a Camden feel, are certainly not a bad place to go. Quite a cool place to go if you're into that.

People's drinking habits have changed, and that might be good for their livers, but it's not good for pubs

How is it running a dive bar in this economy?
It's challenging. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. It's a challenge from one week to the next. It has been since covid. It's a constant battle to pay everything. We keep trying, and we are doing our best to keep being relevant and a cool place. 
At one point, we were probably one of a few places that were still doing a good mix of local, alternative music. Now there are more. That obviously has its challenges, but that's good for Medway, and it's good for music. 
Also, one of the main challenges I find is that people's drinking habits have changed, and that might be good for their livers, but it's not good for pubs. 
You just have to keep changing and evolving.
We did stop doing food for quite a few years because my dad was head chef, and he was ill at the time, and it was too challenging to keep doing that. Then post-covid we relaunched the restaurant, and it's been successful. It is hard in Intra, because you don't get a lot of passing trade, which was another reason that I got involved with what led to the Intra Community Trust. Which is to try, with our local community, to improve the place that we call Intra, and fundamentally improve our chances of surviving as a business. The restaurant is doing fairly well, but if we were slap bang in the middle of Rochester High Street, I expect it would be better. It's evolving and changing all the time, and doing different things. Even after all the years I've been doing it, I never quite know whether I've got it there or not. 

What is IntraFest? 
One of the key things of Intra is the musical theatres and the history related to the LGBT community and all the pubs, clubs, theatres and nightlife that happened here over the last 100 years.
We feel that has led to a certain Medway sound that's come through in a lot of the bands over the last 30 years.
In trying to showcase Intra, celebrate the heritage and the culture, we, Intra Community Trust, as a group, got the funding to put on a festival as part of a community consultation for the area and a street party celebration. The theme is the music halls, the history, leading through to Medway Sounds. We're really showcasing all of those things and a lot of Medway bands, which is something I'm massively passionate about.

Who is funding it? 
The Architectural Heritage Fund is our main supporter. The National Lottery and the Arts Council. Also Medway Council.

Is it a weekend or a single day?
It's a day, but there are lead ups and lead outs to the festival with some of the art projects, working with schools and local people. Then there'll be exhibitions afterwards. The main event is one day. We hope it will turn into yearly, and possibly two days in the future. It's not the first time. There was a smaller event a couple of years ago, but this is on a much larger scale.

Where will it be? 
There are two main sites. One is been generously lent to us by the Grays family, which is the Grays car lot, which is now closed. Peter Gray and his family have let us use that site. Part of their site is used by Thrift and Thrive. That's a large open space looking onto the river. That's a great space for an outdoor festival. The other stage will be the Decktronix Ranscombe stage. Decktronix record shop and Ranscombe Studios are both there, and it's a great car park which we've got the use of for the day. 

Is it solely local bands?
It's all about Medway. It is Medway bands only, and different age groups as well. For example, Mitchell Lane, a fantastic up-and-coming young band. Some of the older guys, my age, Wolf Howard and Little Storping in the Swuff and the Singing Loins. Really pleased they said they'll come and play for us. Lupen Crook is coming back to Medway.