Charity raises £2.1m to buy and save grassroots music venues in UK

Music Venue Trust’s campaign, backed by Ed Sheeran, initially plans to buy nine venues from landlords

An audacious plan to create a National Trust for grassroots music venues across the UK will come one step closer at midnight on Thursday.

When the curtain comes down on the Music Venue Trust’s (MVT) #OwnOurVenues fundraising drive, it is expected to have raised close to £2.2m: a hemi-demi-semiquaver away from the £2.5m the crowdsourcing campaign set out to raise.