The Glad Café in Glasgow is one of 9 music venues around the UK, and the only one in Scotland, to be part of a funding drive to secure its ownership through a new Charitable Community Benefit Society (CCBS).
The Society, called Music Venue Properties, aims to purchase the freehold of grass music venues and intends to raise the funds by selling shares to “music fans and ethical investors”.
Mark Davyd, chief executive of Music Venue Trust, said: “The long-term security and prosperity of grassroots music venues depends almost entirely on one thing – ownership.
“Too many have been at the mercy of some commercial landlords whose motivations revolve primarily around profit.
“We have lost over a third of our venues in the last 20 years and with over 90% having only 18 months left on their tenancies, we are at the cliff edge and could see the decimation of our sector if we don’t do something radical about it.
“The Music Venue Properties scheme will allow ethical investors and music fans to invest in the future of live music while receiving a healthy return on their money.
“Our Save Our Venues campaign launched during the pandemic raised over £4.1m, with more than 80,000 people contributing, so we already have the crowd – we just need to ask them to invest from 23 May.”
The society hopes to raise £3.5m and purchase the nine venues by the end of the year.
