New independent venues from around the UK have spoken to NME about their motivation for opening in arguably the most precarious period for the grassroots music scene in history.
In their 2024 annual report, Music Venue Trust (MVT) published that 200 independent venues remain in a state of emergency, while the UK lost approximately one venue per fortnight. The MVT argued that rising business costs in the wake of the UK’s autumn budget will place over 350 grassroots venues at immediate risk.
Nonetheless, venues like London’s LVLS and Soul Mama, plus Manchester’s The Rat & Pigeon have successfully opened in the past year. Southampton’s Papillon opened in late 2023, with Portsmouth’s KOLA due to open its doors in March.
LVLS, Soul Mama and The Rat & Pigeon are participating in Independent Venue Week (IVW) for the first time this year, joining 211 other UK venues in the much-loved celebration of independent music and arts venues. Kicking off on Monday (January 27), IVW will run all across the country until Sunday (February 2).
“The conversations murmur on in the background, but Independent Venue Week really brings them into the spotlight,” Sam Foster, who runs The Rat & Pigeon and is Operations Director at the FutureCultures Pub Group, told NME. “One of the biggest challenges that we face is building a history, because we’ve only been here six months. Independent Venue Week is an opportunity to build a meaningful history and important milestones in the timeline of The Rat & Pigeon.”
Alice Frith, venue programmer at Papillon and KOLA, added: “[IVW] kickstarts the touring season again. It definitely brings great awareness to independent venues, but I think it’s important for that awareness to be spread all year round – not just in one week at the end of January.”
From the team behind east London rehearsal space and venue The Engine Rooms, Hackney Wick venue LVLS hosted its first show in its 300-capacity live room on November 23, after owner Izaak Rushton had spent “three to four years” scouting out potential sites.
Speaking to NME, Rushton explained that motivation waxed and waned throughout the “tiring” period, though he is delighted to have finally got the development over the line. “There’s something about the words ‘live music’ that makes the council push back incredibly hard, no matter how many times you satisfy every element that they could possibly be worried about.
“It was a little bit soul-destroying at times, because how would anybody open a new music venue if they’re just going to continually knock these things back? There was almost a punk-rock ‘fuck you’ drive – I’m going to do it anyway. It proves it can be done.”
The Rat & Pigeon, meanwhile, boasts an 80-capacity live room in Manchester city centre, sandwiched between the Northern Quarter, Piccadilly and Ancoats. “We wanted to come in and complement the existing culture that we’ve got here,” Foster told NME of his motivation behind the venue, explaining how he “had to snap the opportunity up” when the site initially presented itself.
“We’re not interested in hit and run stuff – we want to be here for 25 years,” he continued. “We wanted to go all in on the venue – you only get one chance at opening a place…we’ve spent thousands of pounds on backline [house drum kit, bass amp etc] to try and make it as easy as possible for promoters to come and work with us.”
He added: “Having those meaningful relationships is what has enabled us to really kick-start here, because I went out of my way to ask questions and listen to what local bands and promoters want. We wanted to make sure we were creating real opportunities that made people leave a bit of themselves out there, every time they came.
“Hyper-locally, there are a plethora of live music venues – 33 Oldham Street, SOUP. All of us can coexist here and do well from it – every single one of the sites is completely different. [We had] no history as a live music venue, but you’re creating history from the moment that you open the doors.”
The 330-capacity KOLA was initially meant to open its doors to coincide with IVW 2025, but the project has been delayed – a common thread through all of these new developments. Nevertheless, the diary is filling up in advance, as Frith and Tom Dyer (Director & Owner at Psych) told NME of their hopes to level-up the south coast scene, after successfully opening Papillon in 2023.
“When we [launched] Wanderlust festival – a multi-venue festival within Southampton – last year, people were coming up and thanking us for doing it,” said Dyer. “It really dawned on me, how much people need this… the community that it brought together that day. By opening more venues, it just grows that community.”
- READ MORE: UK grassroots venues suffering from “the complete collapse of touring” – here’s how you can help
Portsmouth has been removed from the MVT’s primary and secondary circuit in their annual report, an example of the “the complete collapse of touring”, whereby UK tours now last just 11 shows on average, compared to 22 in 1994 – meaning vast areas of the country are without live music and artists visiting. This has only worsened due to the sheer cost of touring and artists struggling to make an income. Frith told NME how she hopes to put Portsmouth back on the touring map, with the help of new venues like KOLA.
“It would be a great thing if KOLA can be part of that, bringing [Portsmouth] back up to that level. Maybe they’ve missed out on some of the bigger shows on the south coast,” she said. “There’s not really a lot of venues there, compared to Southampton,” added Dyer. “A lot of people from Portsmouth come to shows in Southampton – we’ve got the data that shows it. Having Papillon, and now KOLA, gives us a stepping stone to work with, nurturing bands as they progress through their careers.”
In the case of LVLS, Rushton explained how the opportunity can ensure new venues are set up to survive and succeed by their very design. “It’s proving more and more difficult to run a dedicated grassroots space that just does that, which is why everybody’s having to diversify,” he explained.
“But if we can design spaces at the point of conception… we can sort out soundproofing and acoustics to try and minimise future threat from residents and developers. The upper bar levels will contribute to supplementing the music, which means that we’re not so reliant on turnouts to shows – if we have a bad week, we’re [less likely to be] under financial pressure. That’s the long-term view.”
Visit here for more information on gigs and events celebrating Independent Venue Week 2025.