The immediate future of 135 grassroots music venues across England has been preserved thanks to a £3.36m ($4.42m) funding package from the U.K. Government. Beneficiaries include The Troubadour in London and The Jacaranda in Liverpool.
The money comes from the Government’s £1.57b Culture Recovery Fund, £2.25m of which was allocated to venues at risk of imminent collapse due to the coronavirus pandemic. In response to the demand for help from some of the hardest hit in the sector, and to ensure the support would be felt far and wide, the fund has been increased to £3.36m to help as many venues as quickly as possible.
Recipients of the fund include The Troubadour, where Adele and Ed Sheeran performed in the early days of their careers, as well as The Jacaranda, which The Beatles used as their hometown base in their early years. The fund will support The Sunflower Lounge, one of the oldest music venues in Birmingham, and Night People in Manchester, home to Northern Soul and club nights as well as live performances and DJ sets.
Other recipients include The Brickyard in Carlisle, which has hosted a range of acts including Foals, Blossoms and Biffy Clyro since it opened in 2002, and The Louisiana in Bristol, where Florence and The Machine was among the acts that performed to small audiences there at the start of their careers.
