SAVE WHERE ELSE?

Aim

This project aims to financially stabilise Margate's fully dedicated grassroots music venue so that it can survive long enough to grow.

SAVE WHERE ELSE? - KEEP MARGATE’S GRASSROOTS MUSIC HEART BEATING

Where Else? was built as a space for Margate to take creative risks, gather in community, and give artists of all levels a place to grow. A truly grassroots home where anyone can walk in and feel welcome. A space where industry newcomers find their first opportunity, and where boundary-pushing artists can try something new without fear.

For a year, we have done everything possible not to sound the alarm. We hoped each month would be the month things turned around. We cut back to a skeleton staff to reduce costs, picked up every shift ourselves, and pushed through burnout and stress because we believed in what this venue means to Margate. Some months the takings were brilliant, and the next month they dropped without warning. The financial unpredictability has made it impossible to build the stability a grassroots music venue needs to survive.

We are now at a crossroads.

We must ask for help, or we risk closing indefinitely. 

With support, not only can we save Where Else?, but we can begin to implement a programme of changes that will not only make our future sustainable, but broaden what we offer to Margate and the music community here.

What happened?

A dissolved licence and a two-week closure

This autumn we secured a new brewery deal and genuinely believed it would help stabilise our cash flow. Then, through an administrative accident, our licence was dissolved. Although we kept the shows running, we could only operate on a corkage basis, meaning we couldn’t sell any alcoholic drinks and had to close by 11pm.

The corkage fees we brought in covered only a fraction of our projected bar income. We also lost the walk-in trade we normally rely on when the bar is open to the public before, during, and after gigs. What should have been one of our strongest periods instead became a financial blow with a serious ripple effect across the rest of the year.

In grassroots music, especially at the smaller end of the scale, there is no margin for error. Costs are high, margins are tight, and a single interruption can destabilise an entire season.

We have been self-funding the shortfalls

To keep the doors open, we’ve relied on personal credit cards, delayed payments, and juggled debts while trying to protect staff, artists, and programming. We have reached the point where we cannot continue without community support.

Why Where Else? Matters

Where Else? is more than a venue. It is:

• A fully dedicated grassroots space in an era when such spaces are disappearing.
• A genuinely welcoming home for all, no matter your background, identity, or experience level.
• A launchpad for bands at every stage - especially early-career artists testing their first headline shows.
• A gateway for entry-level industry talent, offering real, on-the-ground experience.
• A creative hub where people gather to talk, experiment, collaborate and feel part of something.
• A taste-making space championing indie-experimental, jazz, metal, hardcore, electronic and emerging alternative sounds.
• A venue with a huge age range of supporters, from local teens to 40-somethings and up who crave fresh, original music.
• A cultural anchor - an institution within Margate’s evolving arts landscape.

Recently, we saw a glimpse of what the future could hold. We promoted a Sold Out Lambrini Girls gig at Dreamland the same night Tunng sold out Where Else?, proving the ecosystem is healthy and the appetite for emerging music is very much alive.

Where Else? is working. The community wants it. We just need the financial stability to survive long enough to grow.

Our Vision for the Future

With your help, we can stabilise, and then expand what this venue can offer.

Plans already underway include:

• A community-focused downstairs space, available for local groups and workshops.
• Affordable monthly rehearsal space for Margate bands.
• Continue supporting our in-house community-led radio station.
• An upstairs co-working space with coffee & snacks available. 
• Communal rehearsal area for local musicians and creatives.
• Pop-up food events to diversify income streams.
• More consistent opening hours to make the venue a dependable cultural home.
• A record club, community listening sessions, and more opportunities for musical discovery.
• Additional club nights following gigs, expanding programming and revenue.

We have the ideas, the team, and the community interest. We just need the runway to put it all into place.

What the £40,000 Will Cover

Your support will help us:

• Clear legacy debt (£15,000)
• Pay overdue invoices with our drinks supplier
• Settle our VAT bill
• Recover from lost programming income
• Repay personal credit used to keep the venue afloat
• Regain stability after loss of bar income through challenging months

Every pound will go directly toward keeping Where Else? open. Not just for the next few months, but for the long-term future of Margate’s music scene.

Why now?

Because this is the moment where community truly makes the difference.

Where Else? belongs to everyone who has ever stepped inside it: the artists, the gig-goers, the curious wanderers, the locals who just needed somewhere to sit and connect.

We can’t imagine Margate without a space like this.
If you can’t either, we’re asking you, humbly and openly, to help us save it.

Please donate what you can, share the campaign, and help us reach £40,000 by 31 January 2026.

Together, we can make sure Where Else? stays exactly what it is meant to be:

A fearless, welcoming, experimental heart beating at the centre of Margate’s music community.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made