What on earth have these got to do with each other?
I was disheartened to find out that The Plough, a vibrant rock’n’roll pub in Welsh border town Oswestry has suddenly closed. Not through lack of numbers nor an unsustainable business. Simply, the building owner has sold up. Boxes and vans were seen and the pub landlady, Rachel wrote to bands cancelling all forthcoming events.
We hear about this kind of thing all the time. Pubs (de facto community living rooms) and small music venues putting the shutters up permanently. This one kind of affected me, as many local friends frequent The Plough – affectionately coined as the ‘irregulars’. Furthermore, I cannot fail to have been impressed over the years by the service Rachel and Mark (‘Maggot’) do to music and to the community. Not only through regular band nights, but also open mic nights and the most special one – the periodic young musicians afternoon where under-18s would come and have a blast for an afternoon, in a safe supervised environment.
So, what’s this got to do with the built environment and social value? Well, everything really.
A history of small venue demise
A pub will close somewhere in the UK roughly every day. According to Eonmusic, 125 grass root music venues closed in the year up to end of 2024, meaning… “30,000 fewer live performances and the loss of up to 4,000 jobs”. The reasons are varied; some businesses fail, some cite regulatory or operational challenges, some buildings get sold – the tenant business often has no power over this. Covid and the restrictions on gatherings put a death hammer on many businesses.
However, the demise has been going on for decades. Here are some cases that have been equally personal:
- Royal Standard, Walthamstow, London (fine gig venue) – shut up shop in 2011, limped on for a few years and has now been demolished
- Roxborough, Harrow, London (rock discos every Saturday) – closed in 1989 and was re-developed into faceless office blocks
- Oldfield Tavern, Greenford Green, London (The Who and many of the great bands of the 1960s came through in their formative days) – closed in 2001, demolished and re-developed into 64 uninspiring flats that virtually spill over the pavement onto the road
- The Limelight, Crewe (fine gig venue and nightclub within an old church) – closed in 2009, site became abandoned and derelict
- The Cavern, Mathew St, Liverpool (needs no explanation) – rivalling His Holiness the Dalai Lama for closures, movements and reincarnations, is now largely a museum
Only a snapshot, but in each case, the fate of the building or site is inextricably linked.
The social value connection
The loss of jobs and the social connection of concerts speak volumes in terms of the value lost when music venues go. But this kind of value is often overlooked, hidden or not seen as prestigious as the value of money, return on investment or productivity. “Money talks, bullshit walks”, was a line from the well-known rock spoof movie ‘This is Spinal Tap’. And they had a point…
I’m particularly proud of a piece of work I was involved in at the Building Research Establishment – the Value Toolkit. This is a set of processes and tools that enables construction and asset projects to elicit and embed a wider sense of value into them – and it’s all currently free to download and use. We’re talking things like the value of the environment and of, and for people. I would often lecture on value-based decision making to university students. To introduce the idea I would put up a splash of a few well-known figures and ask, “what would these people value?”
This would usually produce a lively discussion on things like money, environment, the value of connections, personal skill development, concern and service to communities, mental and spiritual well-being and so on. And also that these things are not equal; yet the only thing making that decision is us.
Here’s a stab at the social value a small live music venue as a place creates. There’s probably more. I’ve loosely consulted things like the National TOMS, United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and our construction Value Definition Framework. All this has a potentially massive value to society, culture and economy. I leave it for someone else to expand. Rachel, Maggot and co., this, and more, is your proud legacy.
For those working in small venues:
- Jobs and sustainable employment – all aspects, business administration, event organisation, hospitality, event promotion and marketing, security, equipment maintenance, improving employability of people
- Skills development – everything above, audio engineering, lighting
- Apprenticeships, internships and work experience, training the next generation
- Staff good health and well-being – enjoyment and variation in the job
- Diversity and inclusion – employment for all
- Stakeholder engagement and partnerships – community, local government, with musicians and industry
For musicians:
- Skills development and experience – the opportunity for musicians to practise and develop their craft, to develop our future stadium touring and recording stars
- Employment – musicians can earn a living or a supplementary living
- Creating networks and connections – within communities of musicians, the music industry, networks of venues and touring
- Positive experience, equality and diversity, and supporting mental health – through open mic or jam sessions, a safe space for everyone to come and have a go
For fans and event attendees:
- Creating networks and connections – communities of music fans, creation of fan clubs, social media pages
- Positive experience and supporting good mental health and well-being – events to look forward to, a place to look forward to frequenting
- Belonging – to a community, a venue, a musical scene
What do we take from this?
It is too early to know the fate of the site of The Plough. Uncertain times exist now for Rachel, Maggot and staff. They undertake to keep the pub’s Facebook page going for posterity and to continue to share the magic of the last few years – and there has been an absolute outpouring of good wishes from the community since the closure announcement. I hope that they are able to continue their unique brand, most likely somewhere else. Personally I think they should be considered for the honours list for their service to music.
On the question of what we value, yes it would be rose-tinted, or perhaps black-tinted to assume everyone will value live music, rock’n’roll, community living rooms or good beer. We might feel we do not have the power to influence what rich asset owners do with their wealth. What they might decide to do with sites, where their value lies. But I think that is not quite the case. There are things we can do:
- Challenge existing counsellors on what they value – if they are not able to easily articulate this, don’t vote for them again
- Challenge the process to continue to incorporate an explicit wider and balanced sense of value in things like planning applications and use of community assets – balanced meaning value for money but also ability to preserve or generate environmental and social value like jobs, skills, a sense of community and connectedness or special interests
- Insist that no one dimension of value is better than another. People will differ on this, sometimes vehemently, but the important thing is to get wide stakeholder input
- Insist that councils, clients, asset owners, developers and constructors get educated on the wider dimensions of value – there are three free modules at the Supply Chain Sustainability School – it’s a no brainer!
- And make sure at least one friendly councillor is well-versed in the social value things of interest to you
Small music venues are proving grounds for upcoming stars and future cultural icons. Without them, culture dissipates and becomes superficial. The sweat and noise may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you listen to popular music, you cannot deny their value. Was The Plough a bit of a dive and did the bogs stink at closing time? Yes and yes. But so did the Cavern’s. Look what came out of the Cavern and the value these four scallies created in the world.
Here are some images of the vibrant Plough, now gone to the spirit in the sky. Perhaps Ozzy, Lemmy, Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Randy Rhoads and many others might reconstruct it in their spiritual abode and have one hell of a jam session and party!
Eonmusic article https://www.eonmusic.co.uk/features/the-state-of-the-live-music-industry-in-the-uk
The Plough’s closure announced in the local press https://www.bordercountiesadvertizer.co.uk/news/25405824.oswestrys-friendly-irregular-pub-set-close/
Supply Chain Sustainability School *** free training modules *** on value https://www.supplychainschool.co.uk/topics/procurement/value-toolkit/
Constructing Excellence Value Toolkit, join the community and download all the tools and kit *** for free *** https://constructingexcellence.org.uk/value-toolkit/