Music Venue Trust has provided £540 of match funding
TOUR DE INDEPENDENTS: Pedal to BUILD OUR FUTURE
Birkenhead, England, United Kingdom
Aim
Riding 300km, in 2.5 days, between over 40 Grassroots Music Venues, raising money to BUILD OUR FUTURE + celebrate local independent venues!
My name is Craig Pennington. I’m the Chief Executive and Co-Founder at Future Yard CIC, a community music venue in Birkenhead, on the Left Bank of the River Mersey.
Future Yard is currently live with a major crowdfunding campaign; BUILD OUR FUTURE. The aim is to expand our venue with a new 600-capacity space and studios, powering music, skills + opportunity in Birkenhead.
To help raise funds towards our target, I'm going to be riding the TOUR DE INDEPENDENTS; a 300+km , 2.5 day bike ride, taking in over 40 grassroots music venues across North of England that keep our local music communities alive. I love grassroots music venues (evidently!) and I love escaping on my bike, so 2.5 days exploring the best music venues between Leeds and Birkenhead sounds like my idea of type-2 fun!
TOUR DE INDEPENDENTS will travel (loosely!) between Leeds-Manchester-Liverpool-Birkenhead. Over 2.5 days I’ll ride between 40+ grassroots music venues, stopping along the way to say hello. As well as the major cities, I’ll be calling in at smaller towns and villages, visiting music venues that are vital to their local music and creative culture.
TOUR DE INDEPENDENTS is all about celebrating the collective power of grassroots music venues in our local communities, in all their beautiful idiosyncrasy.
All funds raised will support Future Yard’s BUILD OUR FUTURE campaign, championing grassroots music and nurturing the next generation of talent.
So please do dig deep, if you have the ability to do so. Help us BUILD OUR FUTURE!
And, if you would like me to call in at your venue drop me an email; [email protected]. I’d love to call past for a cuppa (or a pint) and a photo!
This project successfully funded on 27th March 2026