Over 8,000 people have signed a petition opposing the redevelopment of Mandela Hall one of Northern Ireland’s best-known live music venues.

Campaigners fear the 1,000-capacity venue, which has hosted acts such as Radiohead, Bastille and Jake Bugg, could be demolished after Queen’s University Belfast announced plans to build a new Students’ Union building, reports the Belfast Telegraph.

It said: “The project will redevelop the existing Students’ Union site to provide a new purpose-built integrated student centre which addresses the identified accommodation needs, providing a stimulating and engaging environment for the undergraduate and postgraduate student population.”

The brief for the new building envisages a total area of approximately 11,000 metres-squared over a number of floors and the total cost will exceed £24 million.

The Change.org petition states: “Please support us to prevent the possible closure of a venue that has hosted massive student club nights, comedy shows, DJ sets, live concerts and everything in between by some of the biggest names in the business.”

Upcoming shows at Mandela Hall include Jess Glynne, Wolf Alice, The Cult, Jamie Lawson, Peter Hook & The Light and John Grant.

The Students’ Union president Caoímhe McNeill said the redevelopment project was “very much in the early stages”, adding: “The conversation about the need for the redevelopment of the Students’ Union started back in 2011, based on feedback from our students in several of our annual student surveys.”

“The feedback highlighted that our students want to see investment and improvements to the Students’ Union building.”

The petition can be found here : https://www.change.org/p/queen-s-university-belfast-stop-queen-s-university-from-demolishing-mandela-hall-and-it-s-sister-venues