Guitar heroes wanted: Last-ditch appeal to save grassroots venue

Music fans across Yorkshire have just three days to help secure the future of two vital grassroots venues - Northern Guitars in Leeds and Gut Level in Sheffield - as the Own Our Venues campaign nears its target.

- by Dennis Morton

The community ownership scheme, run by Music Venue Properties (MVP), has already raised more than £1.3m - 86 per cent of its £1.5m goal - from more than 1,000 supporters, with the deadline this Friday.

The campaign aims to safeguard independent music venues across the UK and offer long-term stability to venues that may otherwise face closure, and follows MVP's recent milestone purchases of The Joiners in Southampton and The Croft in Bristol.

Chris Sherrington, campaign manager at MVP, said: "We're now in the final few days of our campaign to bring grassroots music venues into community ownership, and two of the most at-risk are right here in Yorkshire.