It is simply unfeasible to continue

the Old Red Bus Station in Leeds has become the latest small music venue to be forced to close its doors.

The multi-purpose venue on Vicar Street in the centre of the city made the announcement on Instagram on Saturday (January 11), saying it had become “simply unfeasible to continue operating”.

Situated in a former bus depot, the 250-capacity venue had a reputation for supporting emerging talent, but it will close its doors next weekend (January 18).

“This is a truly sad thing for us to announce,” began the venue’s post. “Like many small grassroots venues across the country, we have faced an unassailable task of fighting the cost of living crisis with rising utilities, uncompromising landlords, and a local council and government that has little interest in preserving one of the only things this country has to be proud of – its culture.”

“Coupled with no option to secure a long term lease, it is simply infeasible to continue operating.”

Grassroots venues in the UK are under unprecedented pressure. Last year, the Music Venue Trust (MVT) delivered their full report into the state of the sector for 2023, showing the “disaster” facing live music with venues closing at a rate of around two per week.

The Trust then presented their findings at Westminster, and continued to echo calls for a £1 levy on tickets for gigs at arena size and above.

In 2023, following the closure of legendary Bath music venue Moles, MVT CEO Mark Davyd explained the threat facing the UK’s live music scene in greater detail, and told NME that the live music industry was “interested in making money but not in the ecosystem.”

“Anybody in this country who understands live music is absolutely stunned that the industry doesn’t think that matters,” he said. “It may not matter to them, but it matters to people who actually like live music. It matters to artists, it matters to anyone who cares. If you’re too busy making money to pay attention to that and realise that it’s a problem that you need to get involved with, then good luck to you – but it won’t last. People are just fed up.”

Huge names have increasingly been getting involved in helping support grassroots spaces. Last year, Coldplay announced that 10 per cent of their proceeds from their upcoming stadium shows in London and Hull would be given to Music Venue Trust, in a bid to help support venues around the country.

Just two months ago, the MVT also pointed to a potential “complete collapse of touring” as a result of the budget announcement that introduced £7million in new premises taxes. MVT suggested it would place 350 grassroots music venues at immediate risk of closure – threatening more than 12,000 jobs, over £250million in economic activity and the loss of over 75,000 live music events.

The UK government has started to back the call for a ticket levy on arena gigs and above to feed the grassroots. A deadline for the music industry to take more concrete action has been set for March, before the government will be forced to step in and act.

One of the artists helping to raise awareness is English Teacher frontwoman Lily Fontaine, who previously spoke to NME about the importance of grassroots music venues, and also told MPs at a hearing about how artists are facing “a crisis in terms of funding”.

One ray of hope for venues has come from MVT’s #OwnOurVenues scheme, which was first announced in May 2022 and sees venues signing a “cultural lease” with Music Venue Properties. The lease guarantees that as long as the venue operates as a space for grassroots live music for the local community, they can enjoy use of the building.

The most recent venue to be saved by the scheme was Newport’s Le Pub this week (January 10). It joins the likes of The Snug in Atherton, Preston’s The Ferret and The Bunkhouse in Swansea.