Music Venue Trust (MVT) has announced a second acquisition by Music Venue Properties (MVP) under its Own Our Venues scheme.
The Ferret in Preston, a 200-capacity venue which has hosted artists such as Ed Sheeran, IDLES, Alt-J, Royal Blood and many more, will now be placed into permanent protected status.
Following the purchase, The Ferret’s operators have signed a cultural lease with MVP, an “innovative agreement” specifically created by MVP to guarantee that, as long as The Ferret operates as a space for grassroots live music for their local community, they can enjoy the use of the building.
“This one was a very complicated and challenging process, but that’s good because it tested what we’re doing,” MVT chief Mark Davyd tells IQ.
“We had to make our way through a lot of legal complications and work out different bits of ownership law. But the important thing is, The Ferret is a highly valued and treasured space in this area. It has grown organically out of a music community here and has a fantastic team running it. It came under threat and not only has that threat gone, but the venue will be here forever.”
“The Own Our Venues programme is escalating”
The purchase of The Ferret follows the October 2023 acquisition of The Snug in Atherton, Greater Manchester.
A further seven venues across the country have been identified for purchase in this initial phase and Davyd reveals to IQ that MVT/MVP currently have offers on three of those venues.
“We would expect to announce at least two of those venues in no more than a month,” he adds. “The Own Our Venues programme is escalating and we’re still keen to get more people invested because it’s really transforming the future of these venues.”
Own Our Venues was originally launched as a Community Share Offer in 2022. To date, almost £2.6m has been raised from over 1,200 individual investors. Funding was matched with a £500k investment from Arts Council England, and the figure includes loans of £150k from Preston City Council and £500k from Arts & Culture Impact Fund.
According to MVT, 93% of GMVs are tenants with the typical operator only having 18 months left on their tenancy.
The issue of ownership underpins almost every other challenge that GMVs have faced during the last twenty years, says MVT, including gentrification, noise complaints, under-investment, poor economic models, and an inability to plan for the future.
In other MVT news, the organisation has appointed three key hires, with Sophie Brownlee joining as external affairs manager and Kimberley Goddard taking on the role of fundraising manager in a part-time capacity.
In addition, Sophie Asquith has been promoted to be the new venue support team manager, overseeing the work of the UK’s venue coordinators and heading up MVT’s Emergency Response Service.
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