Lancaster Music Co-operative has secured a £90,000 Arts Council England grant and £10,000 in community funding to complete repairs to its building, which has been closed since 2021.
The much-prized Lancashire venue – which has seen acts such as James, the Prodigy, Maximo Park, British Sea Power and the Lovely Eggs pass through its doors on their way to bigger success – .was forced, after a long battle, to close in 2021 after the building was declared unsafe, with initial repairs costing £1.2m funded through grants and a community fundraising campaign.
However, the co-op was short of an additional £100,000 was needed to complete the work.
Now it is set to open its doors once again after securing the funds to complete the refurbishment of its Lodge Street building.
The money will fund the final stages of reconstruction, including the completion of rehearsal and recording rooms, office space, and other work throughout the building. The refurbished venue is expected to reopen in June 2027, with five rehearsal rooms and a small recording studio.
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Holly Blackwell, the co-op’s director, said the co-op had spent years working towards reopening the venue, including by signing a 99-year lease with Lancaster City Council in 2023 in which the co-op agreed to restore the building.
“We just can’t wait to get the music co-op back up and running again,” Blackwell told the BBC. “It’s been years of constant graft to get back open, but we will never give up on this place. It means too much to too many people.”
Cat Smith, MP for Lancaster and Wyre, said the co-operative’s directors and supporters had shown considerable determination to complete the project, describing LMC as “a vital part of our grassroots music scene”.
In future, the co-op hopes to develop the building’s upstairs area, subject to securing additional funding.
