Covid was a huge blow for UK arts venues. The energy crisis could be a fatal one

theguardian.com:

Imagine a small music venue. There are many such places dotted around the UK, the sort of spot where you might catch an up-and-coming band, some folk or jazz, the occasional standup comedian. I’m thinking of a real venue, capacity 500, in the south of England. There’s nowhere else to see live music in this town, and it’s been going for decades. Only it may not be around for much longer. It’s just had its electricity bill, from the largely state-owned French company EDF (fill in your own ironies). That bill is 640% higher than the last one.

There’s no energy price cap for businesses such as this – that’s just for households. They’ve pulled in a broker to try to get them a better rate, without success. The extra £31,000 for putting the lights on is more than what the boss is paid. They’re worried that if they go public, the landlord and their suppliers will panic and pull the plug. Which really would be the end.

One possible solution is to increase ticket prices from £8 to £12.50. Another, to put up a pint of lager from £5.70 to £8.20. But the last thing any of them wants to do is pass on costs to an audience who are already tight for cash, with inflation at a 40-year high and the real value of workers’ pay falling at its fastest for 20 years.

But what’s to do? Covid was a nightmare for venues such as this, but the government did eventually step in with the cultural recovery fund. Mark Davyd, who runs the Music Venue Trust, told me that 50 to 100 members of his network are facing a “frankly imminent crisis” – one that is even more threatening than the pandemic, because this is happening completely outside the political conversation, which is focused on household bills. “It is oddly and tragically likely to close more music