• Swindon & Wiltshire Culture
• Friday December 22 2023
• Author Name: Peter Davison

Music Venue Trust unveils plan to save Bath’s beloved Moles

A plan to save Bath live music venue Moles has been revealed by the Music Venue Trust.

Music lovers were shocked at the start of the month when the venue – an important launchpad for bands including The Smiths, Radiohead, Oasis, Eurythmics, Bastille, Mumford & Sons, and Ed Sheeran over its 45-year history – announced it was closing with immediate effect.

The owners of the 220-capacity venue said they were filing for insolvency, blaming the cost of living crisis, rent and rate increases, and the spiralling costs of stock and utilities for the collapse.

Now the Music Venue Trust, which acts to protect, secure and improve UK grassroots music venues, has published a ‘Manifesto for Moles’ which details how the venue could be saved.

The six-step plan would “create a new, economically viable version of Moles.”

It would involve having the venue registered as an Asset of Community Value – protecting the building from sale as anything but a music venue for six months – buying the building, and creating a Community Interest Company to run it.

The plan would also see the existing management team retained.

“The existing team at Moles has been involved in the day-to-day running of the venue for decades,” says the manifesto. “It is this team that knows the venue best, understands the importance of its place within Bath’s local community, and it is incredibly important to retain this local and industry experience.”

Potential funding streams to cover the estimated £1.4 to £1.9 million project – would include the issue of Community Shares, investment from the music industry, government funding through the Community Ownership Fund, local authority assistance, donations, and match funding from the Music Venue Trust itself.

“We encourage everyone who cares about the venue, and about the future of live music in our local communities, to download the manifesto,” said the Trust.

“If you want to #SaveBathMoles this is how to do it.”

The manifesto, which has the backing of the Moles team, can be found at https://cutt.ly/Manifesto4Moles