Derby’s legendary The Venue is closing down

22 February, 2023

a crowd watching a band at The Venue in Derby

The Venue in Derby is closing down after almost 17 years, it has been announced.

The 200 to 500-capacity venue, located on Abbey Street in the city centre, opened its doors back in 2006. Over the years, it’s played host to gigs from the likes of Foals, Wolf Alice, Sleaford Mods, The Charlatans and Pale Waves.

Per the establishment’s official website, it is “Derby’s longest serving and biggest grassroots independent live music venue”.

Today (February 22), a post on The Venue’s social media pages confirmed that it would be closing for good this month. “Thank you for all the support over the years, it’s been a blast! x,” it reads.

In a separate tweet, booker Brett James wrote: “From 2015 I wanted to bring as much live music to Derby with quality over quantity at mind, The Venue being the home of this.  Countless shows, the ups, the downs the everything inbetween was a pleasure.

“I managed to bring some of the biggest names in the industry to this little city of ours. The place is closing, leaving a huge gap in the cities musical culture and if you ever came to a show of ours, thank-you long live The Venue x.”

You can see those posts below.

Further information regarding the circumstances around The Venue’s closure has not been disclosed.

However, it comes after a recent report from the Music Venue Trust (MVT) that said grassroots gig spaces in the UK were “going over a cliff” – shutting off the pipeline of future talent without urgent government action and investment from new large arenas.

Staff from various UK grassroots venues also spoke to NME this month about how the cost of living crisis, Brexit, cancelled shows and music fans’ last minute decisions on showing up to concerts had created the “perfect storm” for their industry.

“COVID’s not gone away, everyone’s feeling the pinch, there’s a cost of living crisis and people are generally more apathetic to going out,” explained Gareth Barber, venue owner and promoter at Esquires in Bedford.

“Plus, the way the country is being run is depressing and everything going on outside of the country is depressing too.”

Despite these struggles, Reece Ritchie from Manchester’s Night & Day argued that grassroots venues were still “the best place to see art right now. And usually for less than £15!”

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