Community to buy iconic Brighton grassroots music venue in bid to secure its future
Independent rock bar The Pipeline is one of seven in the UK up for public ownership
An iconic grassroots music venue in Brighton's lanes could come under community ownership in a bid to keep its doors open.
The Pipeline, on Little East Street, one of seven in the UK which could have shares split amongst the public in a so-called "cultural lease"
It means it'll pay sustainable rent and receive help with maintenance costs, financial sustainability and operational best practice.
The move is part of the 'Own Our Venues' initiative', which hopes to provide long-term stability to venues by removing them from vulnerable commercial leases - some of which can only last 18 months.
Costs "too high"
Venue Manager Tomas Evrenos says having a venue owned by people who care about its legacy makes a huge difference:
"I don't know who could take over or do something else with it, then they could kick me out at any time. "It's very difficult to plan long term, so a landlord involved in grassroots music would be really good for me."
He explained that since losing grants and funding handouts after the pandemic, "it's been a struggle" for independent music venues like his:
"We've been losing money every year.
"The problem is we can't take more money from our customers, because they can't afford it. "We try to be as cost-efficient as possible, but it's quite a struggle.
"We get really busy gigs, we're really popular, we've never had as many gigs as we have today.
"But still, the bottom line of it, is that the costs are too high for us."
"Fulfilling a role"
The first shared ownership campaign in 2023 raised £2.88 million and secured the future of venues including The Snug in Atherton, The Ferret in Preston, Le Pub in Newport, The Bunkhouse in Swansea and The Booking Hall in Dover.
Tomas added: "We have more than 200 gigs a year here from all walks of life - so there must be a huge need for places like this. "If there wasn't, there wouldn't be people requesting to play all the time.
"We're fulfilling a role here."