The music plays on at The Venue
CITY LIVE BAND HOTSPOT BACK FROM THE BRINK OF CLOSURE
A DERBY music venue, once in imminent danger of permanent closure after losing all its income during lockdown, is back from the brink
The last gig at The Venue - the city’s biggest independent live music spot - was on March 7, 2020. Since then it has been closed due to the pandemic.
However, it has now been deemed safe, much to the relief of gig-goers who over the last decade have seen acts such as Wolf Alice, The Charlatans, Craig Charles, Pete Doherty and Sleaford Mods.
The Venue was one of 30 placed on the #SaveOurVenues Red List by the Music Venue Trust, which represents hundreds of grassroots music venues across the UK.
The trust’s “Traffic Light” campaign focused on securing the future of venues which failed to get funding, putting them at risk of closure.
Manager Brett James can’t wait to reopen the doors in Abbey Street but came perilously close to pulling the plug. Even though there was no income from ticket and bar sales, The Venue still had to fork out for rent, licences, insurance, electricity and other essential running costs.
Mr James said: “It got to the point where we thought maybe we should throw the keys in. We were thinking, how are we going to afford this, just to remain closed?”
While funding was available to some, The Venue didn’t qualify for a grant from the Cultural Recovery Fund, and an application to the Arts Council’s Emergency Grassroots Music Venues Fund was rejected.
“We weren’t able to apply for the funds were raised to cover running costs until its expected reopening date in June
Cultural Recovery Fund because of the way our company is structured. We are classed as a sole trader,” Mr James said. “We weren’t given any reason by the Arts Council as to why we were rejected for the Emergency Grassroots Music Venues Fund. We were told this wasn’t for us... we are a grassroots music venue that has an emergency.
“We were getting a bit in from the local authority but it was probably only covering 30% to 40% of what we needed to spend.”
With the future looking bleak, The Venue launched a Crowdfunding appeal, asking fans for donations, resulting in nearly £13,000 being raised.
Singer Frank Turner, who has performed at The Venue in the past, showed his support, raising a £7,280 in an online gig.
Mr James said: “We have enough now to see us through to July/August time. If we stick to the roadmap we should be able to open safely in June or the start of July.
Dates for gigs - including some rescheduled from 2020 - and private events are now starting to fill up the diary. Mr James added: “We are delighted to be taken off MVT’s Red List and we are positive about the future of our venue.
“The dedicated support of MVT, Frank Turner and our wonderful customer base who all chipped in and backed us when we so desperately needed help, thank-you. It sounds a cliché but we really could not have done this without all the support.
“It feels good things are finally starting to turn a corner. It’s nice for the industry to get back and to be able to welcome people back to The Venue - it’s what we do. It will be nice to get back to that kind of normality.”
Gigs lined up at the 500-capacity venue include the Wedding Present in August, Amy Winehouse Experience in September, Ferocious Dog in October and Scouting for Girls in November.