Entertainment

Four music venues ‘facing permanent closure across Hull and Manchester’

Hull’s The Welly and The Polar Bear and Manchester’s The Deaf Institute and Gorilla are facing closure, the Music Venue Trust has said.
Hull’s The Welly and The Polar Bear and Manchester’s The Deaf Institute and Gorilla are facing closure, the Music Venue Trust has said. Hull’s The Welly and The Polar Bear and Manchester’s The Deaf Institute and Gorilla are facing closure, the Music Venue Trust has said.

Four music venues are facing the prospect of permanent closure across Hull and Manchester, the Music Venue Trust has said.

The organisation, which represents grassroots venues, said in a statement that hundreds of other venues could also be lost across the country unless urgent action is taken to save them.

The Welly and The Polar Bear in Hull have announced that they will close, according to the trust.

Coronavirus – Thu Jul 9, 2020
Coronavirus – Thu Jul 9, 2020 Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has previously announced a £1.57 billion support package for the arts (Pippa Fowles/10 Downing Street/Crown Copyright/PA)

Manchester’s The Deaf Institute and Gorilla will need to find new operators if the buildings are to continue being used as music venues, it added.

The Music Venue Trust said the future of the venues may be “salvageable” and urged local authorities to take action and find alternative operators.

“We have been warning for months that the situation faced by grassroots music venues was unsustainable and would result in the closure of spaces people love and artists need unless there was concerted, strategic action,” the organisation said.

“That action now needs to be accelerated to prevent hundreds of other venues from being lost right across the country.”

The Government has previously announced a £1.57 billion support package for the arts, with music venues, theatres, museums, galleries, independent cinemas and heritage sites eligible for emergency grants and loans.

Hull City Council and Greater Manchester Combined Authority have been contacted for comment.