The Social: London music venue saved after crowdfunding campaign
News comes amid the closure of another popular venue in Oxford, and a government report showing the continuing threat to the UK's live music scene amid rising business costs
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Your support makes all the difference.A popular London music venue that has hosted acts including The Arctic Monkeys, Adele and Fatboy Slim has been saved after an outpouring of support to crowdfund the £95,000 to stop it from closing.
The Social, a 250-capacity venue in Little Portland Street, launched its campaign last week after releasing a statement that blamed "rising rents and an offer to the building's leaseholder from a cocktail and wine bar chain" that put them "under very serious threat".
The venue needed to raise £95,000 as a down payment to take it off the market and "save it from turning into just another bar".
Thanks to support from music fans and artists including Fatboy Slim and the post-punk band Shame, the funds were raised before the end of the two-week deadline.
"Holy s**t, you've done it," the venue tweeted. "You've helped us raise enough money to stop the imminent sale of the social. We can't thank you enough for believing in us."
The Social added that it will be extending the fund to gain more control over the business: "We're going to add a load more gigs, DJ sets and rewards from friends of The Social to the crowdfunder page," it said.
One of the venue's co-founders, Robin Turner, told NME that they were planning on making a number of improvements to the venue with the money raised.
"There'll be a better viewing area downstairs, we'll also add a dressing room, improve the PA massively and expand the beer line as much as possible. The downstairs room was never specifically designed for gigs, which is crazy when you look at who's played. We'd like to improve the experience for bands and audience alike."
The news comes just days after a report was published that showed music venues are struggling to survive amid rising costs and declining revenues.
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It called on the government to immediately review the impact of recent changes to business rates on the live music sector, and to apply relief schemes to protect grassroots venues and independent festivals.
Earlier this week, beloved Oxford venue The Cellar, which hosted bands such as Foals during the early stages of their career, closed its doors.
The Music Venue Trust, which helps maintain, improve and organise music venues in the UK, said the venue was unable to reach an agreement over a rent increase by its landlord, St Michael's and All Saints' Charities. The Trust claimed the church's pursuit of "maximum profit" killed off the venue.
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