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You Can Buy a Share in GMVs across England

Purchase shares now at: crowdfunder.co.uk/p/own-our-venues

Music Venue Properties (MVP), the pioneering Charitable Community Benefit Society created by Music Venue Trust (MVT), has announced the launch of the next phase of its groundbreaking ‘Own Our Venues’ project — a bold initiative to secure the future of a further seven iconic Grassroots Music Venues (GMVs) across the UK through community ownership. 
 
The Own Our Venues initiative focuses on removing Grassroots Music Venues from vulnerable commercial leases by placing them into community ownership. The aim is to provide long-term stability to venues that are essential for fostering local talent and providing cultural value to existing, local infrastructure.

Following the success of its first campaign in 2023, which raised £2.88 million and secured the future of venues including The Snug in Atherton, The Ferret in Preston, Le Pub in Newport, The Bunkhouse in Swansea and The Booking Hall in Dover, MVP is once again calling on music lovers and local communities to take action in order to protect vital cultural spaces.

The ‘cultural lease’ provides long-term security by offering stability that typical commercial leases, averaging just 18 months, cannot. These leases ensure fair, sustainable rent, annual contributions toward essential maintenance, and ongoing support in areas such as financial sustainability and operational best practice. This comprehensive support helps venues focus on their mission to bring music to their local communities while shielding them from the financial pressures of the commercial lease market.
 
MVP have now announced plans to acquire a further seven venues via a second community share offer, which will open on May 15th 2025 and close on 31st July 2025. This will focus on the purchase of longstanding, iconic music spaces such as Esquires in Bedford, The Sugarmill in Stoke-on-Trent & The Joiners in Southampton, alongside key community hubs such as The Croft in Bristol, Peggy’s Skylight in Nottingham, The Lubber Fiend in Newcastle and The Pipeline in Brighton.

Music Venue Trust Launch 2024 Annual Report

MVT has launched its 2024 Annual Report, which once again raises concerns about the ongoing challenges facing the sector.

Despite highlighting positive activity such as MVT celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2024, the continued success of Music Venue Properties (MVP), and the publication of a Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) report that made strong recommendations to support grassroots music, it is clear that significant work is still needed to prevent a continued decline of the sector.

A survey of the 810 members of the Music Venue Alliance (MVA) found that on average GMV’s operated on a profit margin of just 0.48% with 43.8% of them reporting a loss in the last 12 months. This means that the sector as a whole effectively subsidised live music activity to the tune of £162m.

In addition MVT’s Emergency Response Service dealt with a 19% increase in cases from 2023.

10 Years of MVT is intended to complement MVT‘s Annual Report 2024. This booklet provides a brief history of the charity’s work to date (a commissioned feature by writer Laura Kelly) and a celebration of key achievements in our mission to protect, secure and improve GMVs across the UK. To download it click here.

To read more and access the full 2024 Annual Report please click here.

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