Darwen's Sunbird Records could have long-term future protected thanks to £3.5m initiative

Music Venue Trust (MVT), the UK charity which represents hundreds of grassroots music venues, has announced an ambitious new £3.5 million initiative called Music Venue Properties, that will help grassroots music venues secure their long-term futures.

Currently nine venues have been chosen to pilot the concept, including Sunbird Records in Darwen, a venue which was opened in 2016 by Jonathan Lindley who sadly died earlier this year, and has been taken on by Jonathan’s family and friends.

The Ferret in Preston has also been selected, and coincides with the venue, which is currently up for sale, being granted an asset of community value status last week, which means that the planned sale must be put on hold for six months to give a community group the chance to buy it.

Jonathan Lindley and Ramsay Lohan

Speaking on the campaign, a spokesperson for Sunbird Records said: “Having MVP as a landlord would also help us grow massively, our current landlord has no interest in anything to do with the venue apart from collecting the rent with no help being offered over the Covid restriction period either.

"Having MVP behind us as a landlord will allow us to explore new avenues of the business and also use their wealth of knowledge to help grow not only the venue but the cultural community as a whole."

More than 35 per cent of grassroots music venues have closed in the last 20 years and 93 per cent of them are tenants with the typical operator only having 18 months left on their tenancy.

Since the start of the Covid crisis the sector has acquired more than £90m of new debt, yet 67 per cent of Culture Recovery Fund grant aid was paid directly to landlords.

This issue of ownership underpins almost every other challenge that grassroots music venues have faced during the last 20 years including gentrification, noise complaints, under-investment, poor economic models, and an inability to plan for the future.

Music Venue Trust has therefore launched a Charitable Community Benefit Society (CCBS) named Music Venue Properties (MVP), to purchase the freehold of grassroots music venue properties.

Unlike a Charity, a CCBS can raise money via Community Shares and by purchasing these shares music fans and ethical investors will help raise funds to allow MVP to buy freeholds, whilst also receiving a three per cent APR return on their investment.

MVP has identified nine venues for a pilot project that will allow the scheme to establish proof of concept.

Six venues are in England, one in Scotland and two are in Wales.

With an initial target of £3.5m to purchase these venues the first of these Community Share Offers will launch later on May 23 with a view of purchasing these venues before the end of 2022.

The nine venues identified are:

• Sunbird, Darwen
• The Ferret, Preston
• The Snug, Atherton
• Le Pub, Newport
• The Glad Café, Glasgow
• The Hairy Dog, Derby
• The Polar Bear, Hull
• The Palladium, Bideford
• Bunkhouse, Swansea

Further venue freeholds will then be identified and secured as and when they become available, and MVP will continue to raise funds through selling community shares and borrowing against the freeholds purchased.

All rental income subsequently received from the purchase of venues will be reinvested towards the expansion of the portfolio.

On completion of purchase MVP will offer the majority of current operators an immediate rent reduction and help contribute to building repairs and insurance, while also guaranteeing long term security and market resistant rents.

CEO of Music Venue Trust, Mark Dayvd, said: “This is the most ambitious initiative Music Venue Trust has ever undertaken.

"The long-term security and prosperity of grassroots music venues depends almost entirely on one thing – ownership.

"Too many have been at the mercy of some commercial landlords whose motivations revolve primarily around profit.

"We have lost over a third of our venues in the last 20 years and with over 90 per cent having only 18 months left on their tenancies we are at the cliff edge and could see the decimation of our sector if we don’t do something radical about it.

"The Music Venue Properties scheme will allow ethical investors and music fans to invest in the future of live music while receiving a healthy return on their money.

"Our #SaveOurVenues campaign launched during the pandemic raised over £4.1m with more than 80,000 people contributing.

"We already have the crowd - we just need to ask them to invest from May 23 and we are confident they will.”

For further information please visit www.musicvenueproperties.com where a full overview of this new initiative can be found.

The opportunity to invest in Music Venue Properties will go live via the website on May 23.