The Covid pandemic spread fear across the world, brought businesses to their knees and confined millions of people to their homes. But for the managing director behind some of Nottingham's most popular venues, it was the "rollercoaster" that challenged him to think "outside the box".
George Akins is the managing director at DHP Family, which owns the legendary Rock City and much cosier gig venue The Bodega, alongside Rescue Rooms, Stealth, Black Cherry Lounge in Nottingham plus The Garage, Grace and Oslo in London and Thekla in Bristol . As some are still feeling the tremours of the Covid pandemic amid the sky-rocketing costs of living crisis, Nottingham's music scene seems to be thriving.
This year has seen live music company DHP Family bounce back strongly from the impact of the pandemic, when the music stopped as the whole live sector closed down overnight and was unable to trade normally for 16 months. This year's turnover is estimated to almost outrun the pre-pandemic times.
READ MORE: Nottingham café that 'puts customers first' serving breakfast for under a fiver
In 2022, DHP Family estimates a turnover between £31m and £32m. In 2017, pre-pandemic times, their turnover was £31m. Unsurprisingly, the turnover was 2020 was £9m - before venues were told to shut and people confined to their homes. In 2021 it reached £21m, reflecting six months of strong trading after huge demand built up during the pandemic.
Mr Akins has explained the process that took the company to this point. Speaking to Nottinghamshire Live from DHP Family's office in Lace Market, he talked about Rock City's rebound, adding: "It was a thirst, quite literally, even during the pandemic. In those periods with restrictions, we were allowed to open with six people sitting down, there were all sorts of restrictions that were put on and taken away and then obviously, it's interpretation of what the restrictions are and what you can do and cannot do.
"But we did everything we could to stay open in whatever way we could. And then we obviously did everything we could to close when we had to close because of the risks to people's safety.
"Then we did reopen. And it was just insane", he added.
Another success story, as Mr Akins's described it, is the expansion of The Bodega. The expansion of the Bodega garden in Cobden Chambers has proved very popular all year round, especially during summer.
Partly created to continue trading within pandemic restrictions, the area has become a favourite beer garden in Nottingham City Centre. Turnover in the outside areas of Bodega has doubled compared to 2019.
Bar takings are up 70 percent from a typical weekend in the student period - from September to November - in 2019 to the same period in 2022. Asked if the pandemic was the booster the company needed to get out of the comfort zone, Mr Akins said: "I do not think we have ever been in a comfort zone. We think we tend to be a market leader in Nottingham and we want to stay a market leader - you cannot be in a comfort zone.
"You have to continually be aware of changes and what needs to happen. But this obviously created a much greater emphasis for that and a much greater asset. We enjoy a bit of drama, not the pandemic itself, but we enjoy the fact that it makes us think outside the box and makes us do interesting things.
"It can be boring doing the same thing over and over again. So it is exciting when something like that happens. I would rather it not be like that, but we managed to create things that did work."
The drive to "do interesting things" did not stop there. Mr Akins said the company's goal was to financially make money while keeping people's minds occupied.
He added: "Our business is to entertain people." As well as the succesful stories, Mr Akins also remembers the events and projects that did not work.
"We saw the potential for the Arboretum to become something quite exciting, an interesting live space. We were trying to keep people employed, we kept them involved and we also had the flexi-furlough. And we also wanted to keep people's minds occupied.
"We did not make any money out of the Arboretum events - we actually lost money. But we felt that it was necessary regardless. The upside was far greater than the downside."
He said that one of the events that was put on in Arboretum, the Folk Festival, was "really successful". It will continue as a one weekend event, rather than taking the whole summer, Mr Akins said.
From admin work to the struggle of making ends meet, hard work has gone into meeting the huge pent-up demand to get back to live music. The last rescheduled tour from Covid is due to take place in July next year - showing the long tail of the restrictions on the sector.
They have delivered 650 shows within the first six months after reopening in July 2021, and more than a thousand in the first nine months of 2022. The festival offering has also grown to meet the increased demand for large outdoor summer events, with the successful 2022 expansion of Splendour Festival from one day to two.
Meanwhile, Dot To Dot, a festival for emerging artists, has continued its success with sell-out editions in September 2021 and May 2022, championing many new UK and international music artists along the way. Beat The Streets, the charity festival in aid of Framework, returned in January 2022, bringing the total raised for the homeless charity to more than £320,000 since 2018, and was recently honoured with an award for its impact on the local and homeless community. They also expanded their festival portfolio earlier this year with the addition of Bearded Theory Festival, an established, award-winning camping festival in the heart of the National Forest.
For Mr Akins, life after the pandemic has been bright - with the music industry thriving more than ever before. He added: "It has just been a roller coaster. Life has been strange. We have come out of the pandemic, we have got a huge boom in our clubs and bars. Overall we have doubled our turnover in Bodega since the pandemic. And Rock City has grown massively as well."
READ NEXT:
'Awful' smell at Morrisons store is so bad shoppers don't want to return
Royal Mail workers confirm more Christmas strikes as offer 'rejected almost immediately'
Universal Credit claimants can request cash back from DWP from today
Nottinghamshire Greene King staff to strike over Christmas in pay dispute
