At a time when independent venues are dropping at an alarming rate, with 30 closing over the course of a year, it’s never been more important to highlight what the UK’s music scene is at risk of losing. Enter: Main Stage. Over the last few months, The Independent has been teaming up with the Music Venue Trust to relaunch the Main Stage programme and highlight the incredible work being done by some of the country’s most interesting grassroots venues. We’ll be speaking to the people running the show, finding out what it takes to keep an independent music venue going in 2026, and why these spaces are so important for artists and audiences alike.
Each venue that features in the Main Stage series will be the subject of an article in The Independent and receive £5,000 worth of ad inventory, along with design assets that they can use in their comms and marketing to highlight that they're a Main Stage venue.
This week, we’re heading to Wales and a rather unexpected location: a 200-year old bank vault in Aberystwyth. It’s not the most obvious place for a grassroots music venue to be located, but the aptly named Bank Vault is just that. Sat behind midnight blue brickwork in throwing distance of the sea, this intimate venue plays host to live music from touring and local acts, while also serving as a lively craft beer bar. While touring bands often perform at the venue, this is a true community space, where Welsh-language music and local bands are really championed.
Bank Vault is the passion project of owner Zac Marsden and events manager Ben McManus, who had previously worked together at another venue in the area. McManus also ran his own live music events, he tells The Independent: “When the opportunity arose to have the venue in an old Bank in Aberystwyth, with original stone walls and a cosy, rustic feel to it, we put all of our efforts to transform the space into an intimate 70 person music venue and craft beer bar that has managed to generate in incredible community space for live music lovers in Aberystwyth.”
The Independent: Hi Ben! How would you describe Bank Vault to someone who has never been?
We are an intimate, independent live music venue in Aberystwyth, right next to the sea! We provide an event space and live music venue that is open for musicians, bands, artists, poets, and all kinds of events and creatives. We host regular monthly events that bring the community together including film screenings, karaoke sessions, quizzes, a popular Open-Mic night, local art exhibitions, a drag night, and an experimental music evening. We also host gigs for local musicians, champion Welsh-language bands, and host national and international touring acts from around the world.
The Independent: What are some of the biggest challenges you face as a grassroots music venue?
As with most other live music venues, costs are always a constant struggle, with the price of beer going up in general, along with electricity costs and other bills also spiraling. We are lucky enough to have a solid amount of local people who attend gigs regularly and support the venue, as well as footfall from students and tourists which really helps us keep going. Our staff are great too and multi-talented, meaning sound engineers can help jump on the bar if needed and vice versa. Getting the word out to bands, promoters and agents outside of Wales is also something we’re trying to push, which is another thing that the MVT has been really helpful for.
The Independent: Looking to the future, what are you most excited about for the venue?
We have been open going on four years now, and want to continue to bring as much live music to Aberystwyth as possible. With our reputation as a live music space in rural mid-Wales, we also want to encourage bands and musicians from far and wide to come and perform here. There’s a nice friendship and connection forming between various independent music venues in mid-Wales, a connection that has been strengthened by the MVT, who have connected many of us together via regular zoom calls, meet-ups, and guidance. The distance and route between the venues could act as a possible touring route for music acts – that’s something we want to encourage!
The Independent: Tell us about a recent gig you loved putting on.
I personally have a big passion for American folk music – Old-time and bluegrass in particular. We’ve been lucky enough to host some quality musicians on tour from America including Jake Blount’s band, Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves, and loads more. One recent show that will go down in my memory forever is one of my all time banjo heroes, Joseph DeCosimo, who we managed to get to play an intimate show at BV before the Fire in the Mountain festival which happens every year about twenty minutes from here. He played to a full room and you could hear a pin drop, with beautiful banjo and fiddle playing along with subtle percussion from band mate Joe Danks. That was a very special moment for me.
The Independent: For all the struggles, what makes running an independent venue like Bank Vault worth it?
The pure joy people get from live music is incredible. Seeing the whole spectrum here at BV is also a lovely thing to see; from first time performers playing their first ever gig at an open mic to incredible performances from touring acts, to lively nights full of dancing with local bands, there are so many special moments over the years that have happened here, and continue to happen too. This sense of community really does make it all worthwhile!
