Grassroots venues are still operating on margins so thin they barely exist. Rising energy bills, soaring business rates, insurance hikes, and the lingering financial damage of the pandemic have created a perfect storm. Many venues are absorbing these costs rather than passing them on. They know their communities simply cannot afford higher ticket prices. Promoters are working for free. Artists are performing at a loss. Staff are burning out. And audiences, especially young people, are being priced out of cultural life entirely.
The cost-of-living crisis has reshaped the cultural landscape in ways that politicians rarely acknowledge. For young people, the idea of a spontaneous night out at a grassroots gig has become a luxury. Essentials cost more every month, wages lag behind inflation, and rent consumes a disproportionate share of income. The grassroots sector is being squeezed from both sides: venues struggling to stay open, and rising costs. The question hangs heavily over the entire ecosystem: when and how does this end?
Politicians have not been silent, but their words have far exceeded their actions. Ian Murray, the Minister for Creative Industries, recently described grassroots music as “the lifeblood of the music industry”. Yet the sector is still waiting for any meaningful policy. Labour entered government promising a renewed commitment to the arts, speaking passionately about cultural equity and the growth of the creative industries. But sympathetic words alone don’t keep the venues open. The government has signalled interest in reviewing business rates for cultural spaces, but timelines remain vague. There are no clear pathways into cultural careers. There is no substantial investment in creative education, and no strategy to ensure they have the means to practice what they preach.
Musicians themselves are increasingly vocal about the crisis. At the launch of a previous MVT report in parliament, Kate Nash called the current touring landscape a “f*cking disgrace”, highlighting how even established artists struggle to make touring financially viable. Her frustration is shared across the industry. Without grassroots venues, there is nowhere for emerging artists to grow, experiment, or build the communities to sustain them.
What’s at stake is more than the survival of small venues. Grassroots spaces are incubators of talent, engines of local economies, and vital third spaces for local communities. They are where identity forms, where friendships are forged, where young people find belonging. Community bears the roots of all cultures, and economic pressures are tearing those roots from the ground. We are losing not just venues and emerging artists, but the communal rituals that make the experience of live music meaningful.
Organisations are fighting to keep the ecosystem alive, the Music Venue Trust, the Liveline Fund, and the LIVE Trust among them, but charity cannot replace policy. The MVT has laid out clear, achievable recommendations: reform business rates, introduce a ticket levy on large-scale events, provide targeted financial relief, and recognise grassroots music as essential cultural infrastructure. The future of British music depends on it.
If Labour truly wants to rebuild Britain’s cultural landscape, it must start at the roots and act before those roots disappear entirely.
Amy King
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