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The prospects for our treasured small music venues have never looked quite so grim. Always at risk from rent hikes and aggressive development, music venues face the same threats as all hospitality businesses at the moment, without being able to pivot to delivering their services in other ways.
The figures provided by a new initiative from the Music Venue Trust bleakly speak for themselves. Save Our Venues reckons that 556 local grassroots music venues across the country are at imminent risk of going under for good. With no income, and no prospect of lockdown ending any time soon, some icons of the UK music scene could be gone for ever, with no hope of them ever reopening in the future. In many cases, it would be the end of the vital live link between performers and audiences.
Save Our Venues is taking a twofold approach. On the one hand, it has a national crowdfunder aiming to raise £100,000 to assist businesses in dire straits. It also works as a central hub for the UK’s small venues. You can adopt your local – the one where you lost your favourite jacket, the one where you met your special other person – linking to their crowdfunders, publicising their campaigns and displaying them on a map.
London stalwarts like The Lexington, The Macbeth and the The Windmill Brixton are already on there. We need these places. Pretty soon, we’re going to need them like we’ve never needed them before.
Find more details of the campaign at www.saveourvenues.com.
There are loads more ways to help people and businesses in London at the moment.
Check out some great music documentaries to watch for free.