How Edinburgh’s venues which once lit up the city have been left in the dark

Edinburgh used to be a vibrant hub of live music and a bouncing nightlife scene, however COVID-19 has stopped it in its tracks, leaving this struggling industry hoping for better days ahead. Chloe Burrell took a look at what the impact of COVID-19 has meant for live music venues across the capital.

Venues have been plunged into darkness, stages lie empty and arenas which once held mass crowds of music fans now play host to vaccinating the population. COVID-19 stopped the world in its tracks in January 2020, shutting down industries globally. The arts and entertainment sector is no different, with gigs cancelled and entertainment venues having to close the curtain indefinitely.

COVID figures in Scotland and the rest of the UK are once again on the rise, meaning venues up and down the country cannot welcome back punters just yet. Edinburgh has seen its nightlife scene screech to a halt, with bars, pubs and clubs all having to keep their doors shut. One of the venues in the capital which has had to bear the brunt of constant restrictions is Sneaky Pete’s, situated in Cowgate. Known amongst its regulars as ‘Sneaky’s’, this well-known grassroots establishment has had to constantly adapt to new changes being brought in since the UK was plunged into lockdown on March 23 last year. They managed to reopen as a restaurant in July but were met with closure once again.

Nick Stewart, manager of Sneaky Pete’s, describes the measures the venue has taken to try and stay open: “We did a pizza bar sort of thing. We were briefly profitable just about when we were able to open between July and October but even after the first few weeks of July once we got into August, they started to bring in more and more restrictions that became to do with the hours we could trade at and then the background music ban was a real sucker.

“So, I don’t think the Government predicted that it would have such an effect or that it would be so disliked by hospitality but the fact was that places immediately lost their atmosphere and people didn’t want to go to venues in that way and a lot of people were going and having house parties as well.”

Dedicated charities have also offered their support. The Music Venue Trust, in affiliation with the Music Venues Alliance, is a UK registered charity which is dedicated to protecting grassroots music venues. As well as managing Sneaky Pete’s, Nick is also the Scottish coordinator for the Music Venues Alliance. He explains what the charity have been doing to try generate money and support for live music venues: “There have been social media campaigns and it’s true to say the public has donated a lot of money to Music Venue Trust and to music venues in order to make sure they stay afloat.

“In the UK altogether, Music Venue Trust has managed to raise £3 million from corporate support and from the public as well,” he continued.

“Historically, there was no support for grassroots music venues from Government and now amazingly under these circumstances that’s changed.”

The Music Venue Trust also ran a campaign back in May entitled #Saveourvenues, with their key aim being to protect live venues from closure across the UK during lockdown. The Trust represents 670 grassroots music venues, with 556 at risk of permanent closure. So far, the campaign has raised £1,240,700 and is still ongoing to reach its target of £1,500,000.

As well as providing a place for a night out and a natter, grassroots music venues also provide a platform for up-and-coming and established musicians to promote their music and get their careers rolling.

“It’s not just about music venues providing a platform for emerging artists that later go on and be professional, that’s a really huge part of what we do and we talked about festival headliners as well you know that career path was really important,” Nick explains.

“Grassroots music venues operate in essentially in a not-for-profit function in that none of them really do make any money, lots of them lose money, lots of them close down over time. But they exist for a reason, one of those reasons is developing talent and there’s a formal set of what they call Talent Development Programmes that are funding quite well in other types of venues but grassroots music venues, your local, your King Tuts, Sneaky Pete’s, Broadcast, something like that tends to operate as if making money wasn’t their goal.”

Edinburgh’s venues have seen well-established musicians walk through its doors, with Sneaky Pete’s welcoming the likes of the Bathgate global star Lewis Capaldi and another Cowgate venue, Bannermans, seeing the likes of rock legends AC/DC and the folk-rock artist KT Tunstall take to the stage.

Megan Black (21) is an emerging singer/songwriter from West Lothian. Having performed in live venues across Scotland since the age of 18, the closure of the Scottish music scene has impacted her greatly:
“Overall during lockdown, I’ve noticed the toll not playing/rehearsing live has taken on my livelihood, creativity and mental wellbeing. I feel for so many business owners, promoters, gig-goers and musicians like myself no longer being able to do something they love or make ends meet.

“As hard as this time has been, I do love how people have come together using social media, and seeing how much people really appreciate live music. I hope to still see my same favourite venues and artists up and running when this is all over, and hopefully even more people out at gigs – it really is way too important to take for granted!”

According to a report undertaken by UK Music called ‘Music By Numbers’, music creators contributed £2.7 billion to the UK economy in 2019, with the chief executive Jamie Njoku-Goodwin calling 2020 a “catastrophic” blow to the industry.

With 2021 now in full swing and Scotland under a national lockdown till at least mid-February, the future is uncertain for the arts and entertainment scene. Virtual events may be the ‘new normal’ for some time to come until it is safe for crowds to gather once more.

Written by Chloe Burrell

Newsdesk