You can help save these seven UK grassroots music venues forever

Music Venue Properties have announced plans to save and secure the future of a further seven UK grassroots gig spaces through community ownership – and you can be part of it.

Last year saw the UK lose one music venue every fortnight, with recent warnings that the rate would increase to one per week in 2025 without urgent government action – only adding to regional areas suffering from what’s been called “the complete collapse of touring”.

Over the last few years, there has been an increased call for music venues to own their own buildings to prevent them from being kicked out by landlords. As a result, the Music Venue Properties scheme has been buying up buildings for beloved gig spaces and is now stepping up its efforts in what’s been described as a “National Trust for music venues” scheme.

The next phase of its groundbreaking ‘Own Our Venues’ project will see them increase the number of benevolent landlords for music venues across the UK, ensuring these spaces have the longevity to plan for future. So far, £2.88million has been raised with MVP buying five venues across the UK.

“Those venues will never close – they will be there forever,” Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd said at a launch event at Brighton’s The Great Escape earlier this month. Looking to ‘phase two’, he continued: “We are going to be buying some of the most iconic venues in the country, and you can be a shareholder in Own Our Venues. Every single one of you should have a share.

“For £100, you could be a co-owner in the five venues they already own and now they’re going to put that money into a pot and buy seven more venues.”

The venues up for grabs include The Lubber Fiend inNewcastle, Nottingham’s Peggy’s Skylight, The Pipeline in Brighton, Stoke’s legendary The Sugarmill the world famous Bedford Esquires and the historic Joiners in Southampton. The seventh venue is one that’s actually being restored and returned.

“The music community are the people who should own these buildings – not landlords on some distant tax exile haven,” Davyd continued. “You love these buildings so you should own them. It’s a radical idea, but it’s the only one that makes sense and will eventually stop these venues from closing down.

“What about the places that have lost venues and the music they love? The seventh venue is one we’re bringing back. We’re re-opening The Croft in Bristol.”

The Own Our Venues initiative focuses on removing grassroots music venues from vulnerable commercial leases by placing them into community ownership to “provide long-term stability to venues that are essential for fostering local talent and providing cultural value to existing, local infrastructure”

Venues saved by the scheme so far include The Snug in Atherton, The Ferret in Preston, Le Pub in Newport, The Bunkhouse in Swansea and The Booking Hall in Dover. Now, MVP are looking to save further venues with a ‘cultural lease’ that “provides long-term security by offering stability that typical commercial leases” and “ensure fair, sustainable rent, annual contributions toward essential maintenance, and ongoing support in areas such as financial sustainability and operational best practice”.

“We welcome Music Venue Properties’ ownership of our building as the only real solution to securing one of the most important live music venues in the UK,” said Ricky Bates, Venue Operator of The Joiners, Southampton said. “For almost 60 years, The Joiners has been a vital part of the UK touring circuit and a creative cornerstone of Southampton, but today its future is uncertain. Our lease expires this year, our landlord is retiring and, while the venue is rich in history, the building is over 200 years old and in need of care.

“In today’s economy, it simply isn’t viable for us as individuals to purchase the property but, with the support of the Own Our Venues campaign and the wider music community, we can secure The Joiners for the next 60 years and beyond. Be part of this historic moment – get involved and help protect grassroots music for generations to come.”

Gareth Barber, Director of Bedford Esquires added: “Unfortunately, we face the real prospect of Bedford not having this venue within the next five years. Our landlord has decided to retire and we are unable to extend the lease. The reality is the venue sits on prime development land and any prospective buyer will undoubtedly want to do the unthinkable. Without being part of this initiative, there is no feasible way of being able to raise enough money to keep the venue for the town, which would rip the heart out of the community. With MVP behind us we can continue to grow, with a solid foundation for our future.”

Chief Operating Officer of MVP Matthew Otridge explained how “the key threat to the grassroots music venue sector has always been that of property ownership”.

“Over 90 per cent of GMVs are tenants and are often in a vulnerable position when they and their landlords do not share the same goals,” he revealed. “It’s a bleak statistic but 35 per cent of venues have closed in the last 20 years and in 2024 another 86 either closed or no longer operated as GMVs.”

Otridge said that the live music sector was “standing at a crossroads but there is a solution”.

“People can help us to put in place real, sustainable solutions,” he added. “Music Venue Properties has shown in just three years that community ownership can secure and preserve venues permanently, and this success has led us to identify new opportunities to purchase some of the UK’s best loved, longest-running venues and to launch our second share offer to secure these key cultural spaces.”

A second community share offer to help save these venues is open now and will close on July 31, 2025. Visit here for more information and to get involved.

This comes as Richard Hawley recently called for the law to be changed on music venue ownership, following the loss of The Leadmill in Sheffield under new landlords who purchased the freehold but vow to keep it running as “a cornerstone of the live music scene in Sheffield, supporting artists, fans, and community projects for the next 100 years”.

Earlier this month saw musicians and industry leaders gather at a government hearing into the state of UK grassroots music, where it was warned that not enough progress was being made in saving venues and new artists via the proposed ticket levy for gigs at arena level and above.

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