Sister Midnight's Community-Owned Venue Is the Blueprint for Future-Proofing London's Cultural Spaces

The statistics are sobering: around 4-5 venues close in the UK per day (11,000 since the pandemic) - and by 2030, there could be no major night clubs left. But could co-operative models offer a way forward?

Grassroots venues in particular have struggled against rent hikes and smaller profit margins, meaning that hosting a space of live music is simply incompatible with long term survival.

That's why Sister Midnight have turned to a different model to ensure longevity to benefit their community: a co-op, where members buy ownership stakes. Through negotiating with Lewisham council, they secured a ten-year rent free lease on a derelict building in Catford centre, and have gathered on community funds to transform it into a new live music space and cultural hub. The space is set to open in autumn, with the last fundraising phase still active.

We speak to co-founders Lenny Watson and Sophie Farrell, alongside committee and board member Damali Eastwood-Scott about the project and how south London's tight knit community is setting a blueprint to safeguard the city's cultural future.

What is the overarching mission of Sister Midnight?

Lenny: Initially the mission was to create a venue run by the community, a space that was going to be here for a long time, had some permanence to it, try to buck the trend of these new spaces pop up for a few years and then vanish, and the community that had been built around them vanishes as well.

That mission has grown over time to not think about the venue but the kinds of spaces for live music. We have a radio station, which started in 2023, and a studio in Catford as well.

The core thing that underpins all of our work is a belief that music is a powerful tool for social and political change, and we want to find as many places as possible that are led by people in the community, and help them imagine and realise the change that is needed for a better life for everyone

You're set to open a community-owned 300 capacity venue in London at a former member's club — one of London's first community owned venues. How did you get here?

Lenny: I volunteered at the original space in Deptford, which was a record shop. The owners decided they wanted to close it down, so I put a proposal to take on the lease, and that's how Sister Midnight started. We had a space a couple of years until the pandemic hit. What was a temporary closure began a permanent one, as the building crumbled around us: the landlord didn't maintain it.

It felt like the perfect moment to rethink everything, I started learning about co-ops, to give the community more ownership and a democratic voice in how organisations are run, and found out about the community benefit society model and thought that that was perfect, so that was the point that Sophie, the other co-founder, got involved.

We initially started a campaign to try to buy a pub on Lewisham High Street, and we were successful in raising the money and getting support, but we weren't able to purchase the building. Through conversations with the local council, they told us that they had this space available, and we managed to negotiate a 10-year rent-free lease, and have been fundraising ever since to get it open.

You currently have this venue, the radio station, a studio... How do you operate across so many levels from a resource perspective?

Lenny: We've been funded entirely through grants, donations, and community investment. The community investment is funding the entire renovation of the building.

We've raised over £450,000 through a collective of 15,000 people who invested in community shares, so they have rights on how we run and operate, and business decisions, that's a really big part of how we make it sustainable, having that membership and that ability to issue shares to raise funds. But we're trying to move towards less dependence on grants and be more self-sustainable. We're hoping to get more people paid, but have been overwhelmed and lucky with how much support people have put into the project.

Dams: Having the committee and board helps to share a bit of the load amongst the many people that volunteer their time to make Sister Midnight, so there's been a lot of growth through the goodwill of others. I applied to be part of the committee, as I saw a call-out for Lewisham residents passionate about the music scene, and I thought 'well, that was me', and I've just loved it.

"Everything about Sister Midnight is rooted in care for the local community, it's rooted in people, and ensuring that culture, history and sounds are preserved and respected."

How is Sister Midnight very much a South London type of initiative?

Dams: Everything about Sister Midnight is rooted in care for the local community, it's rooted in people, and ensuring that culture, history and sounds are preserved and respected. South [East] London is a crazy, chaotic and glorious place where you're able to embrace so many people, and it really makes you who you are. Catford, Lewisham, is packed full of values and love.

Sophie: Sister Midnight is South London through and through. In Lewisham, we're a bit separated from the rest of London, which means its formed a very distinct community within itself. It's very tight-knit, and there's so much pride on being from here.

Will the venue showcase a specific type of sound?

Lenny: There is no specific curatorial direction, other than wanting to represent the music that exists in the area already. When we had the old venue the focus was post-punk and indie, it's grown over time, the radio is more jazz-aligned, but some of the live bookings we still do are more rooted in the DIY punk scene. We are open to everything.

Support London's grassroots venues and check out Sister Midnight's Fundraiser page here.