Plea to save UK’s grassroots music venues as hundreds face closure: ‘We’ll all be poorer for it’

Nearly a quarter of the UK’s grassroots music venues required “emergency” support to help them stay open over the past year, a damning new report has found. 

From Ed Sheeran and Stormzy to Coldplay and Adele, many of Britain’s most successful and influential artists got their start in grassroots music venues. 

But “extreme and totally unnecessary” pressures jeopardise the survival of these important institutions, the Music Venue Trust’s (MVT) annual report has warned – threatening the vitality of the entire music industry. 

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MVT dealt with 200 “emergency response cases” in the 12 months from July 2023 – a 19% increase from the previous reporting year.

This “represents 24.9% of the membership [810 venues] facing a threat of permanent closure”. 

Overall, 46 venues shut down, while a further 40 ceased offering live music. This is a decrease on the preceding year’s loss – a staggering 125 venues – but still reflects a “tough and challenging” climate for operators, who struggle with rising costs, landlord disputes, and gentrification. 

This Independent Venue Week (27 January to 2 February), musicians and advocates want to draw attention to these issues.

“Venues… are still closing, still under extreme and totally unnecessary financial pressures,” said Mark Davyd CEO of Music Venue Trust.

“It isn’t good enough to keep saying how much we all value them, we’ve got to practically do something about it. We need action not words.” 

While smaller venues suffer, big-ticket providers are making bumper profits. Sold-out stadium tours from artists like Oasis and Taylor Swift make millions of pounds for promoters, venues and booking agents.

But the music industry is an “ecosystem,” says YolanDa Brown, Independent Venue Week ambassador, acclaimed saxophonist and independent venue owner. Lose the grassroots, and everyone suffers.

“Without those grassroots venues, you wouldn’t have bands that go on to progress through the ecosystem and end up being the stadium artists,” she told Big Issue. “But you also wouldn’t even have a culture of going out to see live music. That culture starts bubbling, and is nurtured, in these independent places. So it’s really important to preserve them.”

Many – but not all – grassroots venues are independent. Such spaces are particularly important community hubs, says Sybil Bell, founder and CEO of Independent Venue Week. 

“Venues are so much more than just places for live music,” she told Big Issue. “They are cultural hubs for learning, creativity, arts and culture more widely, connecting people in their local community of all ages, backgrounds, abilities, genders, ethnicities, skills, experiences and walks of life.”

Grassroots music venues staged over 162,000 live music events over the 2023-24 reporting period, seen by a total audience of just under 20 million. Overall, the total direct value to the UK economy from these events was £526m.

Yet the venues themselves often struggle to stay afloat. Some 43.8% of grassroots music venues reported a loss to MVT. A ‘healthy’ profit margin is around 10%; the average venue’s profit margin was just 0.48%. 

It’s a precarious position. The government must step in now, urges Phil Ryan. Ryan helped start the Big Issue over 30 years ago and ran a London grassroots music venue – The 12 Bar Club – for many years. 

“These vital cultural hubs pay taxes. They provided employment. They improve areas. They promote community cohesion. They are a huge part of our shredded cultural fabric, and if we lose them, it will be more than a tragedy. It will be a criminal act of wilful negligence by those charged with our wellbeing and welfare,” he said. 

“Your local venue is joy and happiness every night. Something so very needed in these bleakest of times. Save our Venues. If we lose them we will all bethe poorer for it”.

As of November 2024, It is UK government policy that every ticket sold at an arena or stadium should contain a financial contribution that supports grassroots venues, artists, and promoters. MVT described the news as a “light at the end of the tunnel” for struggling venues – but “the sector remains significantly underfunded.”

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