Fatboy Slim Helps Save Brighton DIY Punk Venue The Pipeline in UK Grassroots Music Push
Fatboy Slim (real name Norman Cook) has helped fund the purchase of Brighton DIY punk venue The Pipeline through the Music Venue Properties (MVP) investment scheme, making it the 10th venue to join MVP's community-ownership portfolio. According to NME, Cook played The Pipeline in June 2026 and told the BBC that venues like it are "the lifeblood of the music industry" — the places where future stars learn their craft.
How MVP works: buy the venue, freeze the rent
Music Venue Properties buys up small venues facing existential threats and puts them under community ownership to secure their long-term future, with a pledge not to raise rents. Cook said the current economic climate makes it "pretty much impossible" for small venues to survive on their own, and that MVP can act as a "benevolent landlord," giving venues long-term stability.
Venues brought into the scheme so far include The Snug (Atherton, the first in October 2023), The Ferret (Preston), The Bunkhouse (Swansea), Le Pub (Newport), The Booking Hall (Dover), The Joiners (Southampton), The Croft (Bristol), and Northern Guitars (Leeds) and Gut Level (Sheffield), both added last June. Investor Andy Burnham is also among the scheme's backers.
The policy backdrop for UK grassroots venues
News of The Pipeline's acquisition landed alongside a run of UK government policy announcements. Andy Burnham announced a 20% tax cut for pubs, clubs and live music venues, expected to save the average pub around £1,100 a year — though larger music venues are excluded from the cut. The government also announced a £45 million "Music Plan," which over three years will support more than 40,000 artists and businesses, 2,000 projects, and millions of schoolchildren.
On the £1 ticket levy scheme, £1 from every arena and stadium ticket sold goes toward grassroots venues, with participating artists including Radiohead, Sam Fender, Mumford & Sons, Pulp, Kneecap and Wolf Alice, raising more than £500,000 so far. However, organisers had originally targeted 50% of eligible shows signing up by June 2025; in practice only 8.8% of 2025 shows took part. Media and arts minister Ian Murray MP told NME that legislation could be introduced if the voluntary scheme fails to deliver.
According to available figures, more than half of UK grassroots music venues failed to turn a profit in 2025, with the industry losing 6,000 jobs overall.