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.

In an effort that has been described as; “The National Trust, but for venues”. The initiative looks to secure the futures of these venues by seeking donations in the form of community shares. Investors can buy in to the initiative “from £200 to £100,000 and receive 3% APR on their investment. “  With the aim of raising “£3.5M to buy the freeholds for 9 UK Grassroots Music Venues.”  before the end of 2022. Going forward, the initiative will seek to grow and expand to prevent beloved haunts from closing their doors.

Matt Otridge (the MVT Ownership Coordinator) highlighted the aims of this launch, stating; “We’re calling this bit the pilot project, and we’re hoping that eventually it will grow and grow into a point where we have hundreds of venues that are owned by Music Venue Properties and hundreds of venues that would benefit from having a landlord that literally can’t be motivated by profits because it’s a not-for-profit organisation, as well as a landlord that shares their ambitions in seeing more money going back into the circuit.”

Discussing the recent case of Sheffield own iconic venue, The Leadmill. The Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd elaborated on the perils of todays property market surge; “It remains the case that if a venue doesn’t own its own building or doesn’t have a benevolent relationship with the landlord of that building, then it’s always under threat – that’s the truth of economics, the landlord may decide to sell at any time, the landlord may do a rent review at any time – all of these things can cause the closure of a business, and there’s not much you can do about it while you’re a tenant.”

No grassroots music venue in the UK is sustainable or resilient,no venue can have 100% confidence in its future,or can continue to support musicians and bring music to our communities for decades to come,unless the music venues are owned by people who want them to be music venues

— Music Venue Trust (@musicvenuetrust) April 26, 2022

If you would like to pledge a donation to the MVT’s #OwnOurVenues charity, you can find any and all information at their website, to ensure that the beating heart of our shared loved, never stops thumping!