Liverpool City Region Music Venues – Taking Stock of 2024 Developments

With the start of a new year comes the opportunity to look at developments in our local music venue sector. In 2024 the Night Time Industries Association announced that if clubs continue closing at the current rates, none will be left by 31^st of December 2029 and figures from the 2024 Music Venue Trust Report suggest that a Grassroots Music Venue is closing every two weeks. So how is Liverpool’s live music sector faring in all this?

In 2024 the number of venues hosting live music recorded on Liverpool’s Music Venues Map decreased by 36. The majority of these were Bar/Pubs (14) or Restaurant/Cafés (11) hosting Live Music, rather than dedicated Music Venues. Out of the 36, 22 were actual closures while the remaining 14 either stopped programming music or changed name due to new management or ownership.  Since Bar/Pubs and Restaurant/Cafés don’t usually host live music as a key feature, but rather as a crucial ambiance-setting element, the more significant losses were 6 nightclubs/venues and one record shop, 2 of which were Music Venue Trust accredited Grassroots venues. Comparing this to the national MVT closure numbers (one every 2 weeks), Liverpool saw a GMV closure every six months, a dedicated music venue closure every 8.6 weeks and, when taking all losses (36) into account, a venue hosting live music closure every 1.4 weeks.

2024 not only brought closures, but also 18 new openings. Again, dominated by Bar/Pubs and Restaurant/Cafés hosting live music (12), indicating the constant fluctuation but also the continued importance of live music for the food and drink hospitality sector. and The Fool in Southport. Additionally, two major food hall/event spaces came into operation, Blackstock Market and Box Park offering a variety of entertainment. With 36 closures and 18 openings, the LCR’s overall programming of live music showed only a small year-on year decline demonstrating the regional sector’s robustness in the face of mounting national challenges.

While the state of the local music venue sector is generally looking positive, some major problems remain and the tragic news just broke that the beloved community music venue and pub The Caledonia has closed its doors due to the mounting pressure of energy costs. Losing venues, like the Cali, that offered room to the wider music community to come together and simply make music, as well as programmed gigs, is a big loss for locals, music fans and musicians.

Furthermore, threats are mounting for venues in the Ten Streets Area (which was hyped as the new creative space), with Spray Shop and North Shore Troubadour closing their doors in 2024 and Quarry announcing their imminent closure/move, due to luxury property development. Some venues in the area remain, such as Meraki, one of the only local venues to successfully fight their corner based around the agent of change principle, and the Invisible Wind Factory, who are often involved in organising major events with and for the council, e.g. Eurovision events. But the recently imposed 365-day blanket parking restrictions around the new Bramley Moore stadium, preventing customers and staff alike from parking, poses another major threat to all businesses in the area, and have seemingly been imposed without comprehensive consultation with local businesses. Venues, including Blackstock Market and The Invisible Wind Factory have taken to social media to campaign against the restrictions and to highlight the detrimental effect they will have on their operations.  A key factor to be considered here is also the lack of public transport connections to the area, particularly when considering late night transport, with the current night bus route not catering to the area, and no late night trains running.

Furthermore, news recently broke that parking fee extensions, proposed originally to much resistance in 2022, may be implemented as soon as March of this year. The change will extend current paid parking hours from 7am-6pm, to 7am-11pm. While discouraging audiences from travelling by car can be seen as a positive move in terms of sustainability, this is reliant on effective public transport services (absent in the Ten Streets Area). The impact of such changes on musicians, who need to transport gear and park during their performances, could be detrimental, unless exceptions to these charges would be introduced.

In conclusion, while statistics suggest Liverpool’s live music sector is faring well, there are plenty of threats to our live music sector. Losing important community venues, such as The Caledonia and Quarry, which are all about musical performance and enjoyment, change the local musical landscape and valuable spaces for music lovers to come together are lost. So as always, support your local music venue, by buying gig tickets (ideally in advance) and attending as many music shows as you can.