How do we save our music venues?

Check out the latest We Are London blog post which discussed the state of London's live music venues, the “Agent of Change” initiative and a possible Night Mayor.

Have a read and tell us what you think:

How do we save our music venues?

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This is such a shame. My best nights out have ALWAYS been at a live gig, the atmosphere is always great and I just regress into being a student!!! In a good way!!!! :drink:

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This is tricky - I lament the loss of these venues too and the tidy-up of central London, in general - but as they say: "you can't stop progress". With space in central London at a premium, gentrification of outlying areas is inevitable as you can't fit 500,000 homes into a square half mile! If we owned a small venue and a big developer came knocking with a briefcase containing a life-changing amount of money I'm pretty sure that there are few of us who would refuse it in the name of integrity and consideration of the big picture.

That said, I do miss some of London's greasier spots!

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Although sadly it seems that in most cases developers move in when the lease is up, or licencing changes make it prohibitive to stay open, that raises a good point - if you owned a venue and a developer offered you considerably more than you paid for it would you sell up or keep trading?

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yeh it's easy to blame the faceless developers for everything but you've gotta remember it takes two to tango. you've gotta be really community minded to be able to turn down a fat bag of cash, and keep a venue open for the greater good. don't think i'd be that strong!

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What about staggering closing times? Since Amsterdam's night mayor introduced this they've seen a drop in binge-drinking and related crime. This could prevent crowds of people leaving at the same time which seems to be the main gripe. Could it work over here?

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you'd thinks so, but binge drinking just seems so engendered in the UK culture - they said we'd see a stop to binge drinking after they extended closing hours, but all you see is people getting even more mashed for an extended period of time. moderation in our alcohol consumption just doesn't seem to be on the cards for us. trying to get us to adopt continental drinking habits doesn't seem likely. IMO.

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Binge drinking has definitely dropped off over the last 5 years hasn't it? I don't venture into town as much as I used to but it doesn't seem as severe to me as it used to.


As for the music venues I think it's inevitable in central London with such demand on the space and so much new money flowing into the capital all the time. A lot of these venues would have been seeing declining numbers over recent years alongside increasing rents so the outcome isn't a big shock. I bet a lot of the people lamenting their demise probably haven't set foot in a live music venue in years.

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Binge drinking has fallen in the last 10 years according to the ONS, but only by about 3%.

Is there just less demand for live music these days?

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Maybe so. You can see a live performance whenever you want now, just pick up your smartphone. It may not be a live performance that you attended but it's still live. We're happy to bypass every other first-hand sense or experience nowadays to have it replaced by an app, why not live gigs?

Cynical? Me?!

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Live music is still a huge contributor to the economy. In 2014 alone 3.3 million people visited London to attend a gig or festival. And doesn't the capital need more than just flats?

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