For new bands and artists, Britain's grassroots venue scene has long been key. But the classic evolutionary model of playing first to a small crowd of locals, then playing increasingly larger capacity spaces until you’re eventually selling out the biggest venue in your city is a pathway that seems harder than ever to navigate.
There’s the fact that many grassroots venues continue to operate at a loss, with 44% unable to to turn a profit in 2024 rising to 53.8% in 2025. Employment in the financially fragile sector fell from 30,885 people in 2024 to 24,242 in 2025, with issues stemming from a lack of investment from the government following Covid, gentrification of previously nightlife-focussed areas and the knock-on fatal impact of noise complaints.
At this year’s new artist-focussed Great Escape festival in Brighton (UK), the myriad issues concerning grassroots venues were the primary topic of focus for the first day of conferences.
We attended a fascinating discussion with three women who have united the city’s small venue scene in tandem with the the Music Venue Trust’s Music Venues Alliance, to nurture and support each other.
As noted in the discussion, the fact that technically they're all in competition with each other is dwarfed by the need to collaborate to maintain the scene.
Speaking at the conference were Megan Thompson from venue Joy, Annie Dorrett of the band Clt Dry and venue The Prince Albert, as well as Sally Oakenfold from The Hope and Ruin. All of which work together to run the city’s Homegrown festival. The discussion was moderated by AudioActive’s Adam Joolia.
“I feel like the grassroots venues are kind of like the unsung heroes of A&R,” said Thompson. “Nobody gives them credit for it. Essentially we’re the first places that are putting on bands that then go on and probably sell out UK tours, We're working with them to help them at that development stage.”
Megan cited the success of local band Lambrini Girls as a key example; “I remember putting on their first ever headline show downstairs at the Rossi Bar, I think it's insane that that ever happened. But, you can see in the way that they talk about the music scene that they've come from how much gratitude they have. Bands will always remember where they put on their first gig.”
The three discussed how the levy on large venues, festivals and arenas pushed to be made compulsory by the MVT could be a lifeline for the ailing sector. However, many larger venues still aren’t signed up to the scheme (only 8.8% of arena and stadiums are signed up at time of writing).
“You put CMAT on on a Sunday night, and it's not even sold out,” recalled Sally Oakenfold. “Then a couple of years later, CMAT’s selling out the [5,000 capacity] Brighton Centre and doing amazing - which is brilliant. But maybe some money can come back down to the bottom, where we're doing the A&R for a lot of these big companies That that would help and also recognise grassroots music as a culture.
“Funding is a very, very new thing for grassroots music venues.” Oakenfold continued, “But let me tell you, it makes a huge difference to how we can put things together. We couldn't have put on Brighton’s Homegrown festival without some funding from the Arts Council. It made it easier - but that’s how it should be. Thet’s how it should be all the time."
With the value of the proposed levy still somewhat hypothetical at this stage, then, Annie cited the rising costs of drinks for both venue and customer as something that was a particular drain on the economics of the industry.
“People are drinking less and trying to be healthier - and we’re trying not to rely on booze to have a good time,” Annie said. “But, I also think they’re conscious that the [price of a pint] adds up to practically an hour of [their] wage, especially for the people that are coming out to like the grassroots venues. That's how we make our money. So I think if the prices were put down a little bit and it was a bit more accessible, I think it would make a massive difference. Even if you're buying a pint of Coca-Cola, that's still really important to keep the business going,”
After losing a series of venues from their scene due to just single noise complaints, the issue of gentrification remains a major bone of contention; the potentially devastating legal costs of fighting a formal noise complaint are often insurmountable.
“I mean, getting a noise complaint is essentially a death sentence for a grassroots venue. It can be a really tricky thing, and it can cause a lot of panic,” said Megan. “We’re so lucky that we have Music Venue Alliance Brighton, where we can have direct conversations and understand the process a bit better, but maybe not every venue has that access. Music Venues Trust are good for helping with that.”
“That's one of the things that we've been doing with both with MVT and amongst ourselves, so that when a noise complaint comes in, we know what to do. We know the right procedure,” said Oakenfold. “We know who to write to, who to contact, how to mount a campaign to fight that noise complaint and how to deal with it. We can't just put the letter in the bin and pretend it hasn't happened. You have to deal with it.”
It’s the same with licensing issues, “We've got a much better relationship now with lease licensing and licensing, because we've talked to them, we've had meetings where we can explain why we want to do things. So it's about just educating yourself, sharing that knowledge and supporting each other when something happens. We need to rally around and shout about it.”
