‘We’re not the Ritz, obviously’: Meet the team behind lively Newcastle venue The Lubber Fiend

When the Music Venue Trust released its 2025 annual report into the state of the UK live music venue earlier this year, its findings were disappointing, if not surprising. More than half of the UK music scene’s grassroots venues failed to turn a profit, with 6,000 jobs and 30 entire venues being lost over the year. The threat to the UK music scene that the closure of grassroots music venues (GMVs) ushers in cannot be ignored.

That’s what’s inspired The Independent to team up with the Music Venue Trust once more and relaunch its Main Stage. This summer, The Independent will be showing you eight grassroots venues from across the UK, speaking to the people in charge about what it takes to run an independent music venue in 2026, and what makes it worth it. Today, we’re heading to Newcastle, to learn more about the non-profit, relatively recent opening that is The Lubber Fiend.

Each venue that features in the Main Stage series will be the subject of an article in The Independent, £5,000 worth of ad inventory, and design assets that they can use in their comms and marketing, highlighting that they’re a Main Stage picked venue. The Utilita Arena might play host to the world’s biggest pop stars, but just a stone’s throw away you’ll find The Lubber Fiend and a far more eclectic mix of musicians. It was actually the closure of other venues in the area that led to the venue opening in 2022, after stalwarts of the Newcastle music scene Sam Booth and Tom Hopkin found themselves joking about opening a venue just to have somewhere their band could play.

The idea had legs – they found a venue, and with the time volunteered by their friends, built The Lubber Fiend. Today, the venue is a place where gigs, club nights and community radio station Slack’s Radio all come together. Booth and Hopkin run the station with the station’s founder Jon Cornbill, operating on a not-for-profit basis.

There’s even a restaurant and kitchen downstairs. Booth: I would say we are a grassroots, DIY music venue. This means we are friendly and the music can be amazing – but it’s maybe not the Ritz Hotel.

We are incredibly passionate about the music we put on, so after that I would probably start waxing lyrical about some obscure band who are playing midweek sometime! What’s on the cards for the venue in the future? Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial.