Peggy’s Skylight among music venue properties included ‘Own Our Venues’ grassroots Music Venues Initiative

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 and The Joiners in Southampton, alongside key community hubs such as The Croft in Bristol, Peggy’s Skylight in Nottingham (pictured above), The Lubber Fiend in Newcastle and The Pipeline in Brighton.

Ricky Bates, Venue Operator of The Joiners, Southampton said, “We welcome Music Venue Properties’ ownership of our building as the only real solution to securing one of the most important live music venues in the UK. For almost 60 years, The Joiners has been a vital part of the UK touring circuit and a creative cornerstone of Southampton, but today its future is uncertain. Our lease expires this year, our landlord is retiring and, while the venue is rich in history, the building is over 200 years old and in need of care.  In today’s economy, it simply isn’t viable for us as individuals to purchase the property but, with the support of the Own Our Venues campaign and the wider music community, we can secure The Joiners for the next 60 years and beyond. Be part of this historic moment—get involved and help protect grassroots music for generations to come."

 Gareth Barber, Director of Bedford Esquires added, “Unfortunately, we face the real prospect of Bedford not having this venue within the next 5 years. Our landlord has decided to retire and we are unable to extend the lease. The reality is the venue sits on prime development land and any prospective buyer will undoubtedly want to do the unthinkable. Without being part of this initiative, there is no feasible way of being able to raise enough money to keep the venue for the town, which would rip the heart out of the community. With MVP behind us we can continue to grow, with a solid foundation for our future.”

Matthew Otridge, Chief Operating Officer of MVP said, “The key threat to the grassroots music venue (GMV) sector has always been that of property ownership. Over 90% of GMVs are tenants and are often in a vulnerable position when they and their landlords do not share the same goals. It’s a bleak statistic but 35% of venues have closed in the last 20 years and in 2024 another 86 either closed or no longer operated as GMVs. We are standing at a crossroads but there is a solution, and people can help us to put in place real, sustainable solutions. Music Venue Properties has shown in just three years that community ownership can secure and preserve venues permanently, and this success has led us to identify new opportunities to purchase some of the UK’s best loved, longest-running venues and to launch our second share offer to secure these key cultural spaces.”

For more information visit www.musicvenueproperties.com