Music / Save The Croft
Grassroots unite in fundraising night for the Croft
The city’s grassroots music scene is coming together to support the campaign to reopen the Croft, launched by Music Venue Properties on May 15.
The Stokes Croft venue was included in the latest Own Our Venues round that sees seven venues around the UK up for community ownership.
Celebrated collective Cellar Door have programmed a night of local talent at the Louisiana, another longstanding venue that works tirelessly to champion and support the scene.
is needed now More than ever
The promoters say the lineup comprises “the most exciting up and coming Bristol bands who are set to make an impact at the Croft when it returns.”
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The night is a collaboration with Alpaca Presents, alongside World Famous Dive Bars, the team behind the Crown and Mothers Ruin who will run the Croft if the campaign is successful, and the Exchange, who are set to manage its live programming.
The two-stage all-day fundraiser will be headlined by the New Cut, a four-piece art-rock act who have supported the Buzzcocks, Sprints and the Bug Club, and New Zealand-born outfit the Rothmans who call themselves a ‘post something noise band’, blending 90s noise rock, DIY hardcore and techno rhythms.
Kibbo Kift, most recently seen at Dot to Dot festival, bring their myth and nature-inspired shoegaze designed to ‘transport audiences to otherworldly realms’, while Belishas‘ janky melodic rock ‘treads a grey area between fragile melancholy and visceral catharsis’.
Neverlove’s melancholic mathrock sits alongside what has been called the ‘raw, ferocious primal power’ of DYE. Heather and Bludud complete the bill.
“We all know how important grassroots venues are and the excitement that has built from the news of the Croft return has been amazing. BUT we still have more to do,” said the Cellar Door team.
“We’d love to see you there to support this important cause. We’re truly honoured to be part of something that’s bringing back such an iconic spot.”
Kibbo Kift – named after the camping, hiking and crafts movement with ambitions for world peace – play folk-shoegaze on themes of folklore, confession and relationships with God – photo: Kibbo Kift
The Croft was a cornerstone of Bristol’s grassroots music scene for 25 years, hosting early shows from the likes of Bring Me the Horizon, Ed Sheeran, IDLES and the Arctic Monkeys as well as thousands of DIY acts and clubnights before closing last summer.
Its reopening relies on enough people investing via a community share mechanism which makes them co-owners in the community owned building, with Music Venue Properties as benevolent landlord.
The Croft fundraiser kicks off at 4.30pm at the Louisiana on June 7. Buy tickets at hdfst.uk/e131575
Find out more about the Own Our Venues campaign and invest to save the Croft at crowdfunder.co.uk/p/own-our-venues
Main image: Des Hoskins
Read next:
- In the Know: Matt Otridge, Music Venue Properties
- Collectives join forces for grassroots music extravaganza
- DIY Sci-Fi Futurist Musick Ball brings outsider sonics in
- Review: Dot to Dot 2025 – ‘Exploration, discovery, creative spirit’
- Review: Outer Town – ‘A friendly firebrand of DIY festival spirit’
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