Two Manchester music venues look to have secured their futures after receiving thousands in grant funding.
Rebellion, in the city centre, and The Old Abbey Taphouse, in Hulme, have been awarded £4,165 and £4,704.67 respectively. The money has come from the Music Venue Trust’s (MVT) Pipeline Investment Fund.
It means that Rebellion and The Old Abbey Taphouse are able to continue as small independent venues. That’s a welcome relief in a tough economic climate, said Rachele Evaroa.
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“We have lost lunchtime and after-work trade, because everyone is working from home,” the founder and director of The Old Abbey Taphouse said. “We have to do gigs and later events, and that causes more wear and tear to the venue.
“We have grown as a business but our costs have gone up. The electric bill has gone up from £1,000 to £4,000 per month. We had to turn off the pizza oven. A bottle of CO2 was £13.50, now it’s £37.50. Pints should be £8.50. We are not going bankrupt, it’s just hard.”
The money from MVT means that vital work to ensure the venue can put on live music events can start. Rachele continued: “We have issues with the parquet flooring. It’s over 100 years old, and our marquee got blown down in a storm last year, so our stage get wet — now we need to replace it. The funding will also help us to do some more soundproofing outside.
“It was urgent. Without the flooring inside [being okay], I would have to shut it.”
Rachele is therefore grateful to the MVT. She added: “I’d like to say thank you to the Music Venue Trust because not only do they support us financially, they also do the moral supper we need to get through this period.”
And it’s a similar story at Rebellion, who need a gig and a club night ‘every Friday and Saturday’ just to remain ‘semi-profitable’, according to co-owner Alex Kostyakov.
“At Rebellion, we have carved our niche as a metal venue. Getting bands over from the US and Canada has been really good for us,” he told the M.E.N. “We have struggled to get into the club market, though. We don’t have the consistency of club nights, and with rising costs, to stay semi-profitable means [we need to] have a gig and a club night every Friday and Saturday. Our club nights are quite lacking.”
Alex explained how the money would be used at Rebelion. He said: “The main thing has been the lighting, and the fact that our engineers are based on live bands, not clubs.
“We are one of the last small independent music venues in this part of Manchester. Being a stone’s throw from the Hacienda, it feels like a huge lost opportunity.
“We want to penetrate the acid house and drum and bass [scene], and the other club sub-cultures that do not have a natural venue.”
The Pipeline Investment Fund, established in 2022, is mainly funded by ticket sales of from MVT’s ‘Revive Live’ programme of gigs around the UK, which is supported by The National Lottery. So far, £165,000 worth of grants have been awarded to 38 Grassroots Music Venues since December.
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