A POPULAR Stroud venue has won a £10,000 grant to upgrade its live music spaces. 

The Subscription Rooms is one of six venues across the UK to have been awarded the £10k prize as part a national lockdown recovery competition for independent live music venues. 

Awarded by PRS - Performing Right Society - the organisation represents the rights of over 160,000 songwriters and composers around the world. 

Organisers of The Sub Rooms say they plan on using the grant to upgrade the venue's sound and tech.

While also creating smaller, more accessible live music spaces for local up-and-coming musicians to run DJ sets, jams and intimate performances.

Sub Rooms Director Hugh Phillimore said: "This recovery-focussed nationwide competition was aimed at helping venues remain at the heart of the community – and we’re certainly doing that."

"We’re determined to serve our local community not only by providing a huge cross section of top-quality entertainment but also by encouraging the wealth of local talent that is out there.

Stroud News and Journal: (Left to right) Hugh Phillimore, Director and Nadja Singh, Fundraiser, The Sub Rooms (Left to right) Hugh Phillimore, Director and Nadja Singh, Fundraiser, The Sub Rooms  (Image: Newsquest)

"The Sub Rooms recent call out for local performers to send in material with a view to support headline acts are already being filled.

"The PRS for music prize will help us develop better spaces for emerging talent – it will be a real leg up for local performers."

Andrea Czapary Martin, CEO, PRS for Music, said: “The Sub Rooms in Stroud holds a long and interesting music history, with the Beatles performing there in the 1960s.

"We’re proud to support its ongoing work within the community with a back to live music venue prize of £10,000, creating opportunities for Gloucestershire’s local and emerging talent to have a space where they can flex their creative flair.”

Tony Barton, head of writer relations, PRS for music, said: “The Sub Rooms vision to support and upskill the next generation of musicians, while intertwining the arts within the community it serves, caught the eyes of the judges.

"Congratulations to Hugh, Nadja and the team on its PRS for music back to live prize.”

The Sub Rooms were saved by the Stroud residents when the venue was set to be sold into private ownership.

Stroud News and Journal:

In 2018, ownership of the 189-year-old building was transferred to Stroud Town Council and Stroud Subscription Rooms Trust.

It has since become the cultural hub of the area, for both the people of Gloucestershire and its visitors, providing an innovative programme of live music, theatre, visual arts, spoken word, exhibitions and workshops.  

The prize competition launched in March 2022 as the organisation’s direct response to the devastating effects of the global pandemic on live music venues in the UK.

Winning venues were determined by a judging panel made up of leading representatives from across the music, arts, and hospitality sectors.