Music Venue Trust is a UK Registered Charity which acts to protect, secure and improve UK Grassroots Music Venues for the benefit of venues, communities and upcoming artists. Their ‘Own Our Venues’ scheme aims to secure the long-term futures of such venues by directly tackling the issue of ownership.

The first venue purchased by Music Venue Properties, the independent Charitable Community Benefit Society, created by Music Venue Trust is The Snug, a 100 person capacity venue in Atherton, Greater Manchester. The official launch of The Snug took place in the morning of October 4th, and included the unveiling of a commemorative plaque.

Music Venue Properties announce first venue purchase with shares bought by the live music community! @SnugAtherton has become the first acquisition under #OwnOurVenues scheme!

Official Launch Event held today at The Snug to Celebrate new ownership +unveil a commemorative plaque! pic.twitter.com/HmDamLlrRl

— Music Venue Trust (@musicvenuetrust) October 4, 2023

The event was attended by many of those who had a direct impact in bringing this initiative to life, including Mark Davyd, CEO and Founder of Music Venue Trust, The Snug’s owner/operator Rachael Flaszczak, John Whittingdale, Minister for Creative Industries, Claire Mera-Nelson Director of Music for Arts Council England, Rhoda Dakar & Chris Prosser of the Music Venue Properties Board. Local musicians were also in attendance – Ivor Novello winner Jamie Lawson and 16 year old Jennifer King who is a shareholder in MVP.

The venue’s current operators have signed a ‘cultural lease’, which is an innovative agreement specifically created by MVP to guarantee that, as long as The Snug operates as a space for grassroots live music for their local community, they can enjoy the use of the building.

When commenting on the subject of the recent acquisition, Managing Director of The Snug Rachael Flaszczak said “The Snug being purchased by Music Venue Properties means everything to me, my team and our community, as it allows us to continue to provide this very important space to up & coming artists for many years to come.

We now feel secure and confident to plan ahead knowing the venue is in safe hands with people that have a shared vision of the future of new music. To be the first of many serves as a light of hope that the preservation of Grassroots Music Venues can be done when people pull together to make things happen, and The Snug can keep showcasing the cultural life within our community.”

Riding the high of the scheme’s first purchase, The Snug will no doubt pave the way in the security of many UK Grassroots music venues.

The live performances will take place starting from 19th July 2021 within Grassroots music venues alongside the Music Venues Alliance, 19th July also marks the date in which the Government has issued for Grassroots music venues to fully reopen. The scheme’s tour entitled ‘The National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour’ boasts a roster of talented artists and promises over 300 live performances. The array of other music artists joining the pair on their crusade include English singer-songwriter James Arthur, Mahalia, 27-year-old singer Sam Fender and Irish post-punk band Fontaines DC. All artists involved in the ‘Revive Live’ scheme will be working alongside Music Venue Trust and the National Lottery. Both organisations founded the campaign to bring back lost revenue and to support new artists, musicians and the nation’s live music scene.

The National Lottery injected a sizeable donation of £1 million into the scheme which will cover all touring and production costs occurred during the tour and further events. The donation also means that with upfront costs already paid, the grassroots live music industry can start promoting and producing tours and live shows. Along with the donation to the scheme, the organisation is also offering 30,000 tickets for lottery and scratchcard players to win. The 30,000 tickets up to win will make up half of the tickets available, the other half will be on sale to the public.

Nigel Railton, the Chief Executive of National Lottery, part of the Camelot Group has spoken on the organisation’s excitement to be working with the Music Venue Trust within the scheme. “The National Lottery is very excited to be working with Music Venue Trust in what we believe is a truly ground-breaking initiative. The last year has been incredibly challenging for many industries and we hope The National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour will help kick start the return of grassroots live music. With every ticket having a built in plus-one, we hope The National Lottery can bring friends back together this summer to once again share the experiences we’ve all missed, while thanking players for the amazing things they make happen just by buying a ticket.”

Sir Tom Jones will be performing for a limited audience of 800 at one of the three performance spaces within the Cambridge Junction. Ran’n’Bone Man will play for an even smaller crowd of 250 ticket holders, the gig will take place in Kent. The venue, Tunbridge Wells Forum, is famed within the county as the performance space was once a public toilet.

The ‘Sex Bomb’ singer has spoken on how proud he is to be part of the scheme and the importance of the campaign. He also talks about how grassroots venues are a key part of a new artist’s career and states the importance of support for such venues. “Musicians can record in their bedrooms, but they can’t learn to perform in public without a place to play, without that, there is no way you can communicate directly to people. It’ll be tough to hone your skills and you’ll never have the thrill of feeling their feedback. Without a grassroots music venue, the neighbourhood won’t have a place where people can come together to discover and support a new talent”. So, support your local pub, club, gym or church or wherever someone has the guts to bring in some entertainment, it makes all the difference both to budding artists and the community, I’m delighted to be able to perform a special show as part of The National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour and to be celebrating the return of live music.”

Mark Dayvd, the CEO of Music Venue Trust has also provided the following statement concerning the new campaign. “It’s so important to get artists and crew back out and working, to get our grassroots music venues back up and running, and to get friends, families and communities back together enjoying live music. Grassroots music venues play a crucial role in the development of British music, nurturing local talent, providing a platform for artists to build their careers and develop their music and their performance skills, These venues also play a vital role in the cultural and economic vibrancy of any village, town or city. The National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour is a fantastic initiative which will kickstart the return of great events across the country. We can’t wait to get started!”

The Music Venue Trust has been combating the negative effects in which COVID-19 has held over live music and the industry itself since March 2020. They aim to safely reopen all venues using various campaigns and schemes. Their most successful campaign was # Save Our Venues, which saw support and money given to help infuse revenue and business into Grassroots venues. Now with the new scheme, tour of live performances and #ReviveLive, the trust is on a mission to bring live music back.

The admission VAT rate was reduced in July 2020 as a measure to help preserve struggling venues, as they received lower footfall amid the discontent of the pandemic last year. However, the government outlined that this would only be a temporary reduction, and admission VAT is set to return to the original 20 percent rate on March 31st. Live sector officials are now pledging their support to the #KeepVATat5 campaign, urging chancellor Rishi Sunak to maintain the reduced VAT rate since prolonged closures have meant venues are yet to benefit from this scheme. According to LIVE (Live music Industry, Venues & Entertainment), the extension will save the music industry over £300 million each year.

Greg Parmley, CEO of LIVE, said: “The live music industry supports hundreds of thousands of skilled jobs across the UK and brings in billions of pounds for the UK economy. This policy was brought in to support our industry during these desperate times but currently we are still closed. Reversing this policy before we can start to sell tickets again would be perverse and cripple our recovery.”

Today, 34 trade associations representing the entirety of music and theatre in the UK, have written to @RishiSunak to ask him not to increase VAT by 400% at the moment the arts needs support the most #KeepVATat5. Pls get involved: https://t.co/cPlVsRVuJQ pic.twitter.com/SDcMR9VwLg

— LIVE (@LiveMusic_UK) February 4, 2021

Julian Knight MP, Chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, has openly supported the campaign. “Pulling the plug on the reduced VAT rate for ticket sales now would be short-sighted,” he opined. “The DCMS Committee recommended in its July 2020 report that the 5 percent VAT rate should be kept for three years

“With live events still unable to operate, this is needed more than ever. I fully support LIVE’s campaign. Now is the time to extend support for our vibrant creative sector, which could be a cornerstone of our economic recovery from this crisis.”

As the UK remains under full lockdown restrictions, the fate of this year’s live music sector remains highly precarious. Many artists, including The 1975 and Alfie Templeman and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, have been compelled to cancel or reschedule live concert dates; Glastonbury Festival, meanwhile, announced cancellation for the second year in a row late last month. Mark Davyd, CEO of the Music Venue Trust, has outlined his own plea to Sunak via twitter: “Your government cut VAT on tickets to 5% last year. This was a sensible, budgeted, intelligently designed intervention that achieved the aim of providing maximum support to the music industry at the minimum cost and administration,” he said.

“Since announcing that year long VAT break, hardly a single ticket has been sold. The financial support offered hasn’t yet been used, and it is still badly needed for our industry to recover. Don’t take away that offer of support. Let the industry use it the way you always planned it would, to support our recovery and to invest back into the people and businesses who have lost so much in this crisis. “

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In the recent news of 13 venues being removed from The Red List Davvyd stated, “The love shown for these venues continues to demonstrate how important they are to people and to our towns and cities. Music Venue Trust is committed to reopening every venue safely and we are going to carry on working through this crisis until that outcome is achieved.”

One of the 13 saved from the Music Venue’s Trust fundraiser was Grand Elektra in Hastings. The venue is the cities leading music venue and nightclub, hosting comedy nights, theatre and music videos as well. Paul Mandy, the owner of Grand Elektra stated, “Being part of the red list #saveourvenues has been great support for the venue and hospitality sector. It’s brought great publicity to our cause and with the support of the MVT which has been amazing throughout the whole of the pandemic crisis and helped us weather this storm so far.”

The full list of the 13 venues removed from the Red List are:

Arden Inn, Accrington
Backstage Kinross
Boulevard, Wigan
Four Horsemen, Bournemouth
Gellions, Inverness
Hootenanny, Inverness
Plot 22, Sheffield
Rossi Bar, Brighton
Strange Brew, Bristol
The Brunswick, Hove
The Grand Elektra/ The Crypt, Hastings
The Railway Inn, Winchester
Waterloo Bar, Blackpool

However, there are still venues being added to the ‘Red List’ that are in desperate need of support. These include BOOM in Leeds, The Lexington in London, The Windmill in Brixton and many more. The target for the campaign to succeed is £1,750,000 with a current £791,502 raised from 12,418 supporters.

BOOM Leeds, a renowned punk music venue, has hosted famous artists such as slowthai, Gallows and Code Orange. Yet, the beloved venue is still in dire need of donations due to the pandemics restrictions on live music. Frank Turner, lead vocalist of Million Dead and now solo singer-songwriter, performed a live-stream set in which the proceeds went to BOOM Leeds. In a social media post, the singer stated how his ‘first hard-core gig’ was at BOOM, leading to Turner and his fans raised £7000 for the venue. 

To support your favourite music venue and stop iconic live music settings closing, donate here.

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