Own Our Venues 2025

Own Our Venues 

In 2023, more than 1,300 passionate music fans came together to prove that we can change the future of live music. Now, we’re doing it again, and this time, you can be part of something even bigger.

We’re on a mission to permanently secure the future of grassroots music venues by changing how they’re owned. These iconic spaces, where artists get their start, where fans make unforgettable memories, shouldn’t be at the mercy of landlords, developers, or short-term commercial interests.

We believe these vital venues should belong to all of us, the musicians who fill them with sound, the fans who bring them to life, the communities who rely on them.

When we own our venues, we protect their future. We create stability, foster creativity, and ensure that the heart of live music culture beats strong for generations to come.

Invest in a future where our venues are safe, sustainable, and secure, forever.

Let’s Own Our Venues. Together.

Music Venue Properties (MVP) is a charitable Community Benefit Society established by Music Venue Trust with a bold vision: to take grassroots music venues out of risk and into permanent community ownership.

Whether you’re a dedicated music fan or an ethical investor, you can buy community shares in our Charitable Community Benefit Society from just £100 ( £50 for under 25s), with options up to £100,000 and receive a 4% APR on their investment.

We are aiming to raise a minimum of £1,000,000 from Community Shares as this will help support us raise £2,000,000 from other sources.

We’ve already proven it works, five incredible venues are now safely secured for the future. Now, with our second Community Share Offer, we’re scaling up. And with your support, we aim to secure seven more iconic venues, protecting over 150 years of live music heritage.

The Seven Venues:

• Esquires, Bedford
• The Joiners, Southampton
• Peggy’s Skylight, Nottingham
• The Croft, Bristol
• The Sugarmill, Stoke-on-Trent
• The Lubber Fiend, Newcastle
• The Pipeline, Brighton

These venues are cultural landmarks, community hubs, and the places where legends are born. They’ve nurtured artists like Coldplay, Oasis, Arctic Monkeys, Green Day, Muse, and Elbow, and they continue to be essential platforms for new talent. Each of has their own individual story but without intervention, these vital cultural spaces could be lost forever.

What We’ve Already Achieved

With your support, we have already:

• Raised £2.88 million
• Secured 5 venues: The Snug (Atherton), The Ferret (Preston), Le Pub (Newport), The Bunkhouse (Swansea), The Booking Hall (Dover)
• Launched the groundbreaking Cultural Lease to guarantee affordable rent and support for operators

But there is more to do

90% of UK grassroots venues are tenants. That means they are:

• Vulnerable to eviction and development
• Unable to plan long-term
• Prone to unsustainable rent increases

By scaling up our model and bringing more venues into permanent, community-based ownership, we can change that. Together, we can build a safer, more sustainable future for live music across the UK.

MVP is the solution: a landlord that cares. 

One that provides:

• Long-term leases
• Affordable rents
• Help to operators to strengthen their long-term resilience
• Property maintenance support
• A shared vision for environmental sustainability, diversity, and accessibility

Music Venue Properties is a landlord who is as passionate about live music as the operators we support and that is driven by you, our members.

A Fair Return for a Lasting Impact

being a member of Music Venue Properties has benefits as well: 

• Earn 4% APR on your investment, beginning after year two
• Become a member of Music Venue Properties and co-owner of our assets
• Help secure iconic grassroots venues across the country

When you subscribe to this share offer, you gain a voice in how our society is run and a stake in its future. It’s a powerful way to align your values with your investments. You will also benefit from monthly updates on our progress, access to launch events and a digital Share Certificate to show your support.

All the legal details, our rules, and supporting documents are available at musicvenueproperties.com and at the bottom of the share offer page.

Every investment is a statement: Music Matters

This is more than an investment. It’s your opportunity to, preserve musical heritage, empower local communities and secure a sustainable future for grassroots live music

When you invest in Music Venue Properties, you’re doing more than supporting bricks and mortar, you’re taking a stand for the future of live music in the UK. Your investment makes this all happen and it also allows us to unlock additional grants and loans, multiplying its impact. We have already secured over £1 million in grants and support from UK Government and Arts Council England.

With your help, we can make sure these spaces continue to host the next generation of musical legends, long into the future.

Invest today. Own Our Venues.

Community Shares Standard Mark & Further Info

The Community Shares Standard Mark is awarded by the Community Shares Unit to offers that meet national standards of good practice.

These standards ensure that:

• The offer document and application form are easy to understand
• You are provided with all the facts you need to make an informed decision
• The facts are supported by the annual accounts and/or business plan for the society
• Nothing in the documents is purposefully incorrect, confusing or misleading

Societies are asked to sign a Code of Practice requiring them, among other things, to give the public a right of complaint to the Community Shares Unit.

For more information about community shares, the Community Shares Standard Mark and the Community Shares Unit go to:
https://www.uk.coop/support-your-co-op/community-shares

Documents

To download a text-only version of our Community Share Offer document please click here  

If you have any questions about the campaign please email: [email protected]

After you invest using Crowdfunder you will receive confirmation of your payment automatically and you will then receive a short survey to gather information about where you heard about the project and which if any of the venues you would prefer us to purchase in the coming weeks. We can’t promise we will be able to buy them, for the reasons laid out above, but it will be helpful for us to have a sense of your priorities.