Get the latest gossip
How can we save British nightlife from collapse? Look to Germany – and its football | Gilles Peterson
Small venues are the heart of our musical culture. Here’s a two-pronged plan to keep that heart beating, writes broadcaster and DJ Gilles Peterson
Alongside government neglect, small venues across the country also face rising trade costs, pressure on disposable incomes, greedy property developers, post-pandemic changes in attitudes to communal experiences and the continuing shift towards an increasingly screen-based lifestyle. I cut my teeth DJing and dancing in small venues up and down the country, from my earliest experiences at Christie’s, in Sutton – when I’d head home after Carl Cox finished up as I had to be at school the next day – to a 10-year weekly Monday residency at Bar Rumba in Soho and many formative nights at the Hare & Hounds in Birmingham. In an excellent piece published a couple of weeks ago by John Harris on the “magic and messy glory” of Britain’s nightlife, he suggested a small levy on tickets in arenas and stadiums, which could flow back to independent venues.
Or read this on The Guardian