Businesses throughout the UK have been placed on lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic with arguably the music, arts and hospitality sector most affected by the outbreak. I caught up with several affected businesses to speak about the effects the coronavirus has had, how they are coping, and plans for when this is all over. And please do read our June online edition where we will also speak with a number of musicians affected by the pandemic.
Jessie Mills from Curvy Sounds Guitar Shop in Newcastle: “Curvy Sounds has had to shut down because of COVID-19 so we have obviously been hard hit financially by that. However, we are still selling online and are doing gentle trade locally and internationally in online sales. We really appreciate how much people want to support small shops and want to make sure we survive the virus – we are very thankful and moved by peoples’ kindness and consideration. We are also still doing repairs and are delivering locally or making appointments for collection or posting when our customers are further afield. Furthermore, we are lucky enough to be eligible to receive some support from the government for small businesses and the self-employed so we hope to be able to survive this crazy COVID-19!”
Abigail Pogson, Managing Director at Sage Gateshead: “We are a charity which benefits over 500,000 people every year. We rely on both ticket sales and public donations for more than two-thirds of our income. Without this income, our organisation will face significant challenges. We do much more than concerts – we teach young people, give classes to adults, support the next generation of musicians from the North, use music to help people who are vulnerable and work in communities across the region. Because we have closed our building in the interests of public health, our income from tickets has stopped. At this moment, we are working hard to survive the financial impact of this and support the hundreds of musicians and staff we employ whilst at the same time offering music digitally to help keep people connected and promote wellbeing. People have been asking us what they can do to help so we have set up a Resilience Fund to help us mitigate the financial impact of the coronavirus. We have been bowled over by generous offers of support from our donors, customers and the wider community. As we have been working through rescheduling lots of our activity and getting in touch with audience members many have donated the value of their ticket. As well as planning online music classes for our participants, we’ve linked up with 25 other concert halls across Europe (the ECHO network) to stream archive recordings of concerts in the evenings and our own orchestra Royal Northern Sinfonia have been sharing live music performances from their homes.
Richard Drake from Drake the Bookshop in Stockton: “The bookshop has relocated to the dining room table and while books are no longer flying off the shelves, our Lockdown Pharmacy at drakethebookshop.co.uk is proving very popular. We are thrilled that our customers want to support us as wholeheartedly as they do and can’t wait to have a party at the end of all of this to thank them all for their love and support.
Mark Stafford from Nemix Studios in Newcastle: In line with the government’s action toward the current pandemic, we have temporarily closed the rehearsal rooms and studio as well as cancelling all touring and live sound work. We are happy to be doing our part in reducing the spread of COVID-19 and look forward to welcoming everyone back into the studio when the government announce that it is safe to do so.”
Jimmy Beck from KU in Stockton: “Everything that is happening at the moment with venue closures is of course for the best; health and safety comes first and that is our main priority. We are obviously concerned as to how long this will go on for as bills still need to be paid and we are also interested to know how it will work when venues are allowed to reopen again such as what measures will be put in place etc. We have tickets available for all our shows which have been rescheduled to later dates and can possibly be moved again and both the acts and ticket buyers have been very supportive with this which has been amazing. Buying these tickets will help the venue and in turn give people something to look forward to. We are also thinking about setting up a voucher system for the venues allowing people to buy some drinks in advance, depending on how long this goes on for.”
Les Fry from Voodoo Cafe in Darlington: “Going from a busy bar working over 100 hours per week, it is difficult to adjust to the sudden stop, but we all have to adapt now. I’ve opened a website (angelcutsales.co.uk) doing off-sales deliveries and I’ve started a course in wines and spirits because I have to keep my mind active – and I’d encourage everyone to do the same. We don’t know what we are going to go back to when it has all blown over but we will have a party and we will stay safe. Stay strong and healthy in mind, body and spirit – and don’t stop drinking.
Barry J Appleton from Overall Studios in Washington: “The studio has been shut now because of the COVID-19 situation. We are doing well considering the studio is not making money and should reopen after the shutdown. We hope to be able to complete the renovations to the studio as planned by the end of the year.”
Josh Newell-Brown from Signals Cafe in Saltburn: “We’ve been through a whirlwind of emotions since closing our doors and we miss our staff and our regular customers. We’re working hard behind the scenes on a lot of exciting projects and we can’t wait to welcome you all back. Customers can keep up-to-date with Signals’ news by heading over to our social media channels. We’ve been filming some virtual cocktail classes too where everyone can get involved as well as the launch of our virtual gigs, Seclusion Sessions.
Nick from Horizon Recording Studio in Darlington: “We have closed shop and will remain shut until the lockdown is lifted by the Government. As our sole income is through band rehearsal rooms and band recording sessions, we now have zero income and yet still have rent, electric and water bills to pay and as a fairly new venture, we had no spare capital to begin with, so times are really tough. At the moment, we are unsure how things will pan out. We now know the shutdown will last for at least a further three weeks so we might struggle to survive in our current setup. The next few weeks will determine how things work out.”
At NE Volume, we want to ensure that we can support as many local businesses within the arts/music sector for the foreseeable so if you own a music venue, theatre, bar or arts/music-related independent business and would like to speak with us about your story, please email Lee at info@nevolume.co.uk.
And please, please stay safe out there.
