Grassroots music venues are here to stay - thanks to £1.5m fundraiser

Northern Guitars isn't just a bar or a guitar shop - it's the first rung on the ladder for countless musicians. And, thanks to a successful recent campaign, its future as a grassroots music hub is secured for decades to come.

- by Dennis Morton

It's rare to enter the Call Lane venue on a quiet night. Northern Guitars might be smaller than some of its neighbours, but with live music seven days a week, there's always something happening.

Over recent months, Northern Guitars, together with Sheffield venue Gut Level, has been part of the Own Our Venues scheme - a campaign designed to protect grassroots venues by shielding them from the pressures of the commercial property market and securing their long-term future as cultural spaces through community ownership.

"It's about bricks and mortar," said Rick Wade, who co-owns the booming venue with founder Dave Baguley. "The campaign isn't about buying failing businesses. It's about buying a building, and that building will then be preserved and leased back to a business that promotes grassroots music."

That long-term perspective is rooted in a history stretching back more than three decades. Northern Guitars began in 1989, when Dave and his former business partner Dusty ran a guitar shop in Hyde Park. In 1991, the business moved to Call Lane, where it continued selling new and vintage guitars for decades.