Bristol's Strange Brew one of 13 UK venues removed from crisis list

Posted on: 03 Feb 2021

Almost half of the venues on a nationwide Red List are deemed to have been safeguarded against 'immediate threat'.

 

The Music Venue Trust have today (Wednesday 3 February) announced that 13 of the 30 grassroots venues on their Red List are no longer deemed to be under 'immediate threat'.

 

The organisation, which represents hundreds of independent venues nationwide, launched their Traffic Light campaign in 2020, aiming to raise awareness of live spaces most severely impacted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

 

Bristol's Strange Brew, opened just last year by renowned local promoters DirtyTalk, has been confirmed as one of the venues officially removed from the MVT Red List.

 

 

Having launched their #SaveOurVenues campaign last April in response to the initial COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent UK lockdown, the Music Venue Trust has spent the best part of ten months campaigning for grassroots venues and independent businesses.

 

After initially identifying over 500 venues at risk of permanent closure, the MVT collected thousands of pounds through a wide range of fundraisers to ensure independents would be able to reopen once it's deemed safe to do so.

 

The charity's Traffic Light campaign, unveiled in November, looked at consolidating funding for venues at the most imminent risk of closure, focusing on those that were unable to access adequate government-backed Culture Recovery funding.

 

 

As a result of the widespread success of the campaign - as well as the hard work of venue owners, fans, local communities and councils - 13 of the 30 venues classified under 'immediate threat' have now been removed from the list. These venues include:

 

The Arden Inn (Accrington), Backstage (Kinross), Boulevard (Wigan), Four Horsemen (Bournemouth), Gellions (Inverness), Hootenanny (Inverness), Plot 22 (Sheffield), Rossi Bar (Brighton), The Brunswich (Hove), The Crypt (Hastings), The Railway Inn (Winchester), Waterloo Bar (Blackpool) and Bristol's own Strange Brew.

 

As part of today's announcement, Music Venue Trust CEO, Mark Davyd, said: “We want to thank every artist, every audience member, every member of our community for taking direct action which means we are able to remove these 13 venues from the Red List right now.

 

“The love shown for these venues continues to demonstrate how important they are to people and to our towns and cities.

 

“Music Venue Trust is committed to reopening every venue safely and we are going to carry on working through this crisis until that outcome is achieved.”

 

To get behind the Music Venue Trust as they offer their ongoing support for grassroots music venues across the UK, you can donate directly or purchase MVT merchandise through their crowdfunding campaign.

 

For more information on Strange Brew, or to follow news and updates from the venue, follow them on Twitter.

 

Main Image: Paul Samuel White

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