Brighton Council Listens To Live Scene

Promoters, bands and venue managers met with representatives of Brighton (England) council to discuss the difficult situation venues are facing today. 

Photo: facebook.com/freebutt

The discussion took place in the wake of two recent venue closures in Brighton: the Freebutt and Blind Tiger Club. The former had to shut down because of “a single complaint about drum vibrations,” Brighton and Hove News reports.

Band member Steven Ansell told the councilors about the venues’ importance when it came to developing new musical talent. A venue operator named Sally Ann Oakenfold brought up the issue of not being able to let a younger audience attend shows by young bands without having to go through bureaucratic hassles that would make “the evening prohibitively expensive.”

The council officers answered that they were “limited to working within the legal frameworks provided by national legislation.” What has been discussed among the Brighton panel will be written down and presented to the council’s environment, transport and sustainability committee, the report concludes.