Lost Music Venues

The sign from the London Astoria, the sound monitor from the Haçienda and the hefty metal doors from The End are just some of the relics you can see at the V&A’s new display that shines a light on some of the UK’s closed-down music venues. Compiled from an open call-out, the museum has curated a free exhibition that spotlights 50 former independent venues through more than 150 objects, including photographs, band merch, clothing, flyers and posters.  

You don’t have to be an ageing rocker or former clubber to get something out of this display, as there’s something for all ages. People who came of age at any time between the ‘70s and the 2010s might be hit with a Proustian rush when confronted with a collage of gig tickets from the Rainbow Theatre (a pass for Blondie was just £2.50), or noughties flyers from Plastic People. And nostalgia-loving Gen Zs will get to see what living through indie sleaze was really like – there are spotlights on the ‘toilet circuit’ (the network of small, grubby venues where up-and-coming bands would cut their teeth), amazing, sweaty photos from indie discos at Madame Jojo’s, and oral histories explain that in the pre-smartphone era, you would just turn up at the party and hope your mates were there. What a concept!

Nostalgia-loving Gen Zs will see what living through indie sleaze was really like.

But the most winning aspect of Lost Music Venues is the fabulous immersive design by Misty Buckley. Buckley’s recreation of a grassroots venue will have you settling in to a leather sofa in the green room, perching in a grimy, graffitied toilet cubicle and lounging on the leopard print recreation of the seating booth at Birmingham’s Run Runner, all while hearing spirited oral histories from Femi Koleoso of Ezra Collective, Plastic People founder Ade Fakile and The End manager Liam O’Hare, among other promoters, gig-goers and photographers. Then there’s the recreation of Leicester Square’s Empire Ballroom; replete with golden pillars, elephant heads and red velvet curtains, it feels like something from a Baz Luhrmann flick. Three massive screens play an extract from a film about Kinky Gerlinky, a fashion-forward queer night that took place in the early ‘90s. I want to step into the screen and experience the raucous party for myself.  

Lost Music Venues also explains the issues facing grassroots nightlife – from property development to licensing restrictions and over-policing – while managing not to be preachy about them. And while you might think that visiting a graveyard of venues-past will feel a bit sad, worry not, because the display ends with a defiant call to action. After completing an interactive quiz at the end of the exhibit, you’ll be sent on your merry way to your next night out at one of five UK venues – long may they live!