You head into the low-lit venue a few minutes after the doors open, grab a drink and chat to the bar staff as a handful of people trickle into the 60-capacity room. The opener starts and there’s a vibrational shift as small siloes of conversation become a mass of head-nodding punters, their attentions focusing and bodies swaying to a song they’ve never heard before. Then the headliner arrives: waves of applause, crowds cramming to the front, spontaneous whoops and cheers as a caterwauling singer attacks and retreats. You leave at the back of 11 chattering to strangers about the electric atmosphere and how this was the best gig you’ve seen in years.

Such a night might seem like a memory of small venues from a pre-austerity era, but for thousands of people every week it’s an experience of the now and confirmation that the world of gig-going is as fertile as ever. The community-spirited atmosphere of many music spaces across Glasgow and Edinburgh nonetheless remains in a state of precarity, struggling to pay back debts accrued during covid, coping with increased living costs, wrangling with demands from local councils, and adjusting to an era of declining alcohol consumption. Two grassroots music venues are closing their doors every week, according to the Music Venue Trust (MVT); these hotbeds of cultural vibrancy are hitting crisis point.

In Edinburgh, the sudden closure of The Jazz Bar in April was a ‘stand up and take notice’ moment, confirming the fear that important hangout spots were being stripped away from the capital. For co-owner Justyna Mushlin, many of the bar’s problems arose because it was viewed as part of the furniture. ‘A lot of people took it for granted,’ she says. ‘You wouldn’t imagine the bar has been struggling just by looking at it, but it has been for years. We created an environment for musicians to play, but it was always a battle to pay our VAT bill every quarter.’

Soon after the closure, a crowdfunding campaign was started and Mushlin, alongside her partner and long-time Jazz Bar worker Nick, successfully reopened and transformed the venue into a Community Interest Company (CIC) to give them exemption from VAT on ticket sales and business-rate relief for a more sustainable financial model. 

It’s a route being taken by many smaller venues that prioritise social enterprise. Inhabiting that spirit in Glasgow’s Southside is The Glad Café, opened in 2012 as a CIC to reinvest any profits to fund music workshops and tuition in the area through The Glad Foundation. Despite its popularity, running the venue hasn’t been without problems. ‘Prior to covid, we had a lot of leaks in the building and our bill for that was 40 grand, which we obviously didn’t have sitting around,’ says venue manager and programmer Kim Blyth. ‘But it’s worth it; we’ve become a hub for the Southside and I feel really privileged to book for the venue and to see so many artists pack out shows.’ 

Nick Stewart, managing director of Edinburgh mainstay Sneaky Pete’s echoes Blyth’s sentiment, pointing out that they regularly sell out shows with tickets prices that cost ‘less than the price of a large takeaway pizza’. Business at Sneaky’s is booming, yet Stewart remains conscious of the financial climate for younger music fans. 

‘We first opened Sneaky’s in a recession,’ he tells us. ‘It was so bad back then that nowhere would even let me open a bank account. But things are worse for young people now. The difference in the cost of living is rent, especially in Edinburgh; private landlords have taken all the disposable income that should be spent on a night out. People should be able to feel like they have the standard of living where, especially if they’re young, it’s normal and affordable to go out and cut a rug or see some amazing live music.’

Yet even for venues with bustling live shows, an increasingly health-conscious cohort of young people is biting into their profits. ‘Eighteen to 25-year-olds are drinking less,’ Mark Davyd, founder of MVT, explains. ‘We’ve committed to presenting new and original music in a way that’s heavily reliant on the profit that can be made from selling alcohol. That’s a big challenge when it comes to how you fund this kind of activity.’ For many venue owners we spoke to, this held true; ticket prices cover the fees of an act onstage, while alcohol and snacks help keep the lights on for venues themselves. 

Leith Depot co-owners Pete Mason, Paddy Kavanagh and Julie Carty believe that embracing a mixed-use approach helps balance the books for the Edinburgh venue; money made from food and drink is just as important as the ticket price on the door, with people usually choosing to have a meal at the venue before watching a gig. The same was true for those other venues: Sneaky Pete’s puts on club nights, The Glad Café has a thriving vegan restaurant, and The Jazz Bar is planning to diversify its space to accommodate children’s programming in the daytime.

Even with a sustainable business model, Leith Depot almost faced closure due to a situation outside of its control; in 2019, plans were lodged to demolish their building and an entire block on Leith Walk as part of a ‘redevelopment project’. As Carty explains, ‘there was a massive community campaign. And it went through all these loops before the proposal was rejected.’

Be they noise complaints, wrangles with local councils or disputes with building contractors, the work of the MVT was praised highly in our conversations with small venue owners in Glasgow and Edinburgh. As well as helping with what Davyd describes as ‘quite boring legal work’ for venues, the Trust is pressuring the government for a tax levy on larger venues, in which £1 from every ticket sold at a stadium or arena-sized show goes towards maintaining grassroots organisations.

‘I think that when Lewis Capaldi plays Murrayfield, some of the money that’s being made there should be making sure that the next Lewis Capaldi has somewhere to play and can afford to play it,’ Davyd says. ‘We’re going through a time when the ability to be a community is under attack by the desire to make every square foot of every town as valuable as possible for somebody. We need a counter argument.’

What these conversations drive home is that the people managing and programming small venues are mounting a heroic effort to create nights out that punters will remember for years to come. It’s no hyperbole to say that they’re the bedrock of the live music experience. 

And for them, the rewards outweigh the struggle. ‘It’s great seeing people play with their pals and have a good night out and in a safe space,’ says Leith Depot’s Carty. The Jazz Bar’s Mushlin adds, ‘everyone loves working here because of the atmosphere, the people they meet, and the environment that they’re in. It’s like our second home.’

‘There are big rewards to navigating the tricky times,’ says The Glad Café’s Blyth. ‘Seeing the impact a gig has on the audience and on the artists: this is why we do this.’ Over at Sneaky’s, Stewart agrees. ‘What’s really special is a band in full flow at their peak in a small music venue. You’re getting an absolute real performance in a totally authentic environment.’ 

So, buy your tickets in advance, take a punt on a band you’ve never heard of, be generous with your cash at the bar and, if you’re worried about a small venue in your local area, contact your local MP and ask them what they’re doing to support grassroots music venues. Who knows, your next tiny gig might be the best you’ve ever seen.

Find out more about supporting your local independent venues from the Music Venue Trust; main picture: Cameron Brisbane.