ABOUT

Grassroots Music Venues (GMVs) are where we come together to sing, dance, celebrate, cry and feel a part of something bigger. These rooms create unique moments of magic, transforming everyday acts into nights where ‘you just had to be there’. They are spaces that turn the ordinary into the extraordinary and capture those moments that become folklore.

​

Despite this, 35% of these venues have closed in the last 20 years – a testament to the failure to truly appreciate their value. This ongoing fragile state is built on one single fact that underlies so many of the problems these venues face: 93% of Grassroots Music Venues are tenants, and on average, these operators have 18 months left on their tenancies.

Music Venue Properties was created by Music Venue Trust to tackle that challenge head-on.

 

As a Charitable Community Benefit Society, we buy the buildings that grassroots music venues operate from and rent them back to their current operators using our bespoke Cultural Lease. This lease is designed to reduce financial pressure by offering affordable rents, support with repairs and insurance, and flexibility during challenging trading conditions.

​

Fundamentally, landlords and venue operators do not share the same motivation. Venue operators want to plan for the future and invest in sustainability, accessibility, diversity, artists, and the venue itself. But commercial landlords focus on maximising return on investment. The issue of ownership sits beneath almost every challenge GMVs face - from gentrification and noise complaints to underinvestment, economic instability, and the inability to plan long-term.

​

Through the ground-breaking Own Our Venues campaign, MVP has raised millions of pounds and begun building a portfolio of unique, creative grassroots music venues across the UK - places now held in trust by a community that believes in protecting the future of live music.