Keeping the music alive

The fight to protect grassroots music venues

Over the past few weeks we have accidentally created a short series of articles devoted to the power of physical spaces. We’ve looked at the influence of the short-lived but highly influential Partisan coffee shop, and revisited the King’s Road of the early 70s to see how how the Roebuck Pub and Vivienne Westwood’s SEX boutique helped shape punk.

Today, in the third part of that accidental triptych, we talk to the founder of the Music Venue Trust about the power of experiencing live music in an independent space that was born out of love; why that passion is so difficult to maintain over the longterm; and what can be done to support these crucial venues.