The Joiners and The Croft go into community hands as fans buy the freeholds

Two grassroots strongholds, Southampton's Joiners and Bristol's Croft, have been pulled out of the lease-trap and into community ownership by Music Venue Properties' Own Our Venues scheme.

The way you protect a small venue isn't a plaque or a hashtag, it's the freehold. That's the logic behind Music Venue Properties, the charitable society spun out of Music Venue Trust and billed as a 'National Trust of venues', which has now bought Southampton's The Joiners and Bristol's The Croft outright through its second Own Our Venues campaign.

The model is blunt and effective. Buy the building, take the venue off a vulnerable commercial lease, and the landlord can never again price out the gigs. Since launching in May 2022, Own Our Venues has raised almost 4 million pounds from more than 2,000 small investors, and secured seven venues in its first round, among them The Snug, The Ferret, Le Pub, The Bunkhouse and The Booking Hall.

The Croft carries real weight. Open since 2000, it gave early stages to Arctic Monkeys, IDLES and Ed Sheeran before closing as Crofters Rights in August 2024. It has now reopened under its original name, with a community ownership celebration lined up for early 2026 to mark its 25th anniversary.

Different from a one-off rescue, this is the freehold in safe hands for good. Fewer venues lost to a rent review, more rooms where the next IDLES gets a first soundcheck. That is a fight worth backing.