Government announce first 135 music venues to receive emergency grants

The UK government have announced the first 135 grassroots music venues across England that will receive emergency grants from the £1.57billion Culture Recovery Fund.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport previously announced that £2.25million of that fund would be earmarked to help support the country’s venues.

The Emergency Grassroot Music Venues Fund has now been increased to £3.36million. The first grants to be taken with it will be shared between 135 venues across England who applied for support to help them keep their business going through the coronavirus pandemic.

Some of the venues who will receive funding in this round include Birmingham’s Sunflower Lounge, Brighton’s Green Door Store and Manchester’s Gorilla.

In a press release, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: “This Government is here for culture and these grants today show we are determined to help our exceptional music industry weather the COVID storm and come back stronger. Grassroots music venues are where the magic starts and these emergency grants from our £1.57 billion fund will ensure these music venues survive to create the Adeles and Ed Sheerans of the future.

“I encourage music fans to help too by supporting music and cultural events as they start to get going again.  We need a collective effort to help the things we love through COVID.”

Individual venues have been awarded up to £80,000 each, which will help them to cover on-going running costs such as rent and utilities.

Arts Council England CEO Darren Henley responded to the first round of grants in a statement, saying: “This much-welcomed emergency investment from the government into grassroots music venues will have a profoundly positive impact on England’s music ecology, and today’s news will mean a great deal to the many artists, audiences and communities they serve across the country. I’m pleased that the Arts Council has been able to use its expertise to administer this fund, ensuring that we are supporting music venues in these challenging times.”

Artists have also reacted to the news, with Frank Turner calling it a “positive step”. “I’m very pleased to see that the government’s headline announcement of the Culture Recovery Fund is now blossoming into practical assistance for grassroots music venues in dire need,” he said.

“These spaces are an irreplaceable part of the live music infrastructure in this country and play a vital role in building the careers of internationally successful artists and in our culture more generally. There is, as ever, more to be done, but this is a positive step for sure.”

You can see the full list of recipients so far below, divided by area.

South West

23 Bath St
Level 3
Madding Crowd Ltd
Motion Events Ltd
St Austell Band Club
The Barrel House
The Beau Nash Ltd
The Hutong Cafe
The Louisiana, Bristol
The Lounge Bar
The Old Bookshop
The Stage Door

Midlands

2funky Music Cafe
7E Youth Academy
Cafe Artum
Claptrap The Venue
Crank & Ratchet Bars
Crowdpleaser Club
CSLR Ltd
Escape Venue
Fife Street Social Club
Malty Cross
Meriden Bars
Morley Industries Ltd
Mustapha Bouameur
My Fest I val Events
Nightingale UK Ltd
Peggy’s Skylight
Soundhouse Leicester
Stamford Corn Exchange
The Musician Live Ltd
The Sunflower Lounge
Worleys Swan Limited

North

78 Sackville St Ltd
Alchemy Leeds Ltd
Alexander’s Live
Arts Bar LTD
Audio Collective Limited
Bar Thirty Two Ltd
Bloom Leisure Ltd
BlueberryHill Studios
Camp & Furnace
Creative Aristocracy Ltd
Deaf Institute
District 61 Jordan Street
Electric Church Ltd
Gorilla
Jimmy’s LPL Limited
Jimmy’s NQ Limited
Lancaster Castle
Laura King
Liverpool Olympia
Lughole
Matt and Phreds Mcr Ltd
Meraki Liverpool
N.i.a.m.o.s
Newmeds
Off The UK
Phase One Liverpool
Plain View Production
Recordjunkee
Redwood Bars
Salt Town Limited
Sidney & Matilda
Smithdown Social
Soundblast Limited
Soup Kitchen
SQDL t/a Boiler Shop
Ten Feet Tall
The Alhambra
The Peter Hat
The Stoller Hall
Theoldredbusstation
Think Tank

London

16 Screen Limited
Artsintheeast Ltd
Assorted Works Limited
Bush Hall (Music) Ltd
Columbo Jazz Limited
Columbo South Limited
Corsica Studios
Folklore
HAC
HND House Ltd
Kent Creative
Lateralize Ltd
M.O.T Venue Ltd
Matchstick Theatre Ltd
Nancy Wild
Oake Entertainment
Ormside Projects
Oval Space Holdings
Phoenix Artist Club
Pop Brixton Limited
Rizwan Shaikh
Seamus McCausland & Kathleen Fleming T/A The Windmill Public House
Servant Jazz Quarters
Sister Midnight Records
Society For The Advancement Of Black Arts
Stony Valley
The Amersham Arms
The CLF Art Cafe
The Hoxton Distillery
The Lexington
The Magic Garden
The Post Tottenham Ltd
The Sound Lounge Trust
The Victoria
Troubadour
Village Underground
Wild Honey Pie Limited

South East

Adrian Bell
Ark Culture
Brass Monkey
Concorde2 Limited
Elsewhere Records Ltd
Faces Bar And Lounge
Grand Elektra
Hitchin Club 85 Limited
Jamm Hot Ltd
Latest Bars Ltd
MK I I Ltd
Printers Playhouse
St James Events Ltd
Steve Iredale
The Bear Club
The Belfry Centre For Music & Arts
The Fairycroft House
The Green Door Store
The Jazz Cafe
The Lighthouse
The Pipeline
The Piper