Our north London music venue The Garage has launched a campaign to safeguard its future in the face of an increasingly tough environment that has seen more than 40 percent of grassroots venues close in the capital over the last decade.
Located almost directly opposite Highbury and Islington Tube Station, The Garage sits within an area designated for redevelopment by planners and this combined with rising business rates and a short rolling lease adds up to an uncertain future.
Now The Garage is calling on the community of Highbury and Islington to back its campaign to help preserve its future as it gears up to mark the 25th anniversary with some special shows in November.
The Garage’s programmer Matthew Cook said: “We believe we’re a site of local importance bringing a vibrant musical culture to Islington. With so many of London’s beloved music venues under threat from developers, we want to ensure the future of The Garage by strengthening ties with our local community. We’ve helped to set up a Friends of The Garage facebook group for the local residents to express their support of this iconic venue. We would urge anyone wanting to show their support to join the group where we will be posting regular updates.”
The 600-capacity Garage has been restored to its former glory with a state-of-the-art soundsystem and a fully refurbished bar area and has recently hosted alt-J, Jack White and Harry Styles as well as emerging talent such as Goat Girl, Rina Sawayama, The Orielles and Gus Dapperton.
Opened in 1993, The Garage quickly established itself as the capital’s finest indie and rock venue and performing there has become a rite of passage for many bands. Over its 25 year life span, the Highbury and Islington venue has played host to a roll call of talent including Oasis, Pulp, Slowdive, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Fall, Blur and many others.
Blaine Harrison, vocalist with The Mystery Jets, who played a five-night retrospective at The Garage last September, said: “Live music contributes so much to our culture let alone our economy, and it is imperative that artists and audiences alike fight to hold onto these grassroots institutions for future generations. We played some of our most memorable early gigs there, attended by some of the people that gave us our first breaks in the industry. And yet in less than a year [since it was refurbished] it is already under threat from developers due to sky-rocketing business rates. Gentrification has an increasingly important part to play in the 21st century, but developers and local councils must accept their responsibility to protect our cities from becoming sanitised museums. We must not let the music be stifled and de-legitimised as noise pollution. Because if it gets drowned out we will all be going down with it.”
Our MD George Akins has recently become a patron of the Music Venue Trust to support the charity’s work to protect, secure and improve grassroots music venues across the country. George explains: “Rent increases, unhelpful bureaucracy and redevelopments are all hitting small venues, especially in the capital. We’ve seen our business rates increase by almost 70 percent for some of our London venues. As a concert promoter, we’re able to absorb some of these pressures but for the small independently owned venues, it is becoming completely impossible to survive financially. We all need to work together to try and save as many of these venues as possible before it’s too late. Fundamentally, small venues showcasing grassroots, contemporary music should be seen as cultural venues – in the same way as concert halls and arts theatres – which are eligible for subsidies. We are in great danger of losing the bedrock that has enabled the UK to be one of the world’s great sources of forward thinking music.”