The Music Venue Trust – the trade association for small and medium-sized music venues – had long recognised the ticking timebomb affecting the sector that came from so many venues renting their premises from owners who could make the venues unworkable through rent rises or refusing to renew leases. There had been long-standing intentions to create a sector-owned body to buy the premises and be the friendly landlord who could give certainty to venue operators about the future position, and help with rent holidays if future public health emergencies forced venues to close.
We worked with the team at MVT to create a new entity, Music Venue Properties, which was a subsidiary of MVT which then sought funds to buy venues. MVP’s share offer launched in 2022 and closed a year later after raising £2.2m and going onto buy 7 venues cross the UK.
