Ipswich MP Jack Abbott says more needs to be done to support grassroots music venues

A Suffolk MP called for action to combat ticket touts as he raised the decline of grassroots music during a speech in Parliament.

Speaking in a Westminster Hall debate on the Secondary Ticketing Market, Jack Abbott, MP for Ipswich, noted that the scales were increasingly tipped in favour of large corporations and ticket touts, at the expense of grassroots music venues and ordinary fans.

It comes in the same week that The Music Room, a grassroots venue in Ipswich, announced its closure - though it was saved 48 hours later, it stands as another example of the fragility of the grassroots music industry.

Mr Abbott’s speech came as the Music Venue Trust warned that two music venues a week were closing in England, with predictions that 2024 is set to be the worst year on record for grassroots music venues.

Mr Abbott called for action to combat ticket touts, as a first step in the regeneration of the local music scene.

He said: “If fans are consistently frozen out of live music and the arts more broadly and see them as something they can no longer afford or access, it is grassroots venues and artists that will suffer the most.

“Although our most famous grassroots music venue, The Smokehouse, right in the heart of our town, has nurtured the next generation of local talent, it has been close to closure before.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, the financial pressures became so overbearing that it had to be saved by £12,000 of Crowdfunding from local residents and grants from the local Ipswich Borough Council and the Arts Council.

“Our county of Suffolk is famous for being the home of Ed Sheeran, who is a phenomenal success, and I am proud of the strides we have made in Ipswich over the past few years.

“I give a big shout-out to all those behind the Brighten the Corners music festival, who have an insatiable thirst for going bigger and better every single year.

“Yet with 2024 set to be the worst year on record for grassroots music venue closures, I cannot help but wonder whether Suffolk’s next Ed Sheeran will be denied their chance to shine.

“I welcome the new Labour Government’s commitment to make arts and culture more accessible to a much wider range of people, from tackling ticket touts to broadening the curriculum in schools and expanding access to the arts across the board.

“Finding a way to stop prolific ticket touts and their often illegal practices is a first step in the right direction, but it must be a springboard for change, spurring on further action to make arts and culture truly affordable and accessible for everyone.”

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