Popular venue Komedia Bath is celebrating six years of being a Community Benefit Society, having adopted the model to secure its future with ownership by local residents.
Photo © Komedia Bath
Back in 2017, the original owners of the Westgate Street-based business took the decision to attempt to become one of the first venues in the UK to adopt the Community Benefit Society (CBS) model.
At that time, many pubs had been saved from the threat of closure by their local communities coming together, chipping in and taking ownership, however there wasn’t a precedent for doing the same kind of thing with venues.
Now, six years after its successful CBS conversion on 26th March 2019, the award-winning venue has become a model for the efficacy of this community-centred approach.
It has 227 members who each own a share of the business and a programme that includes regular free community events and encourages grassroots participation alongside more commercial activities.
A spokesperson for Komedia said: “Abandoning the traditional model has been the catalyst to our sustained success and has helped us embed ourselves in the community and deliver on events initiatives that matter to Bath’s residents.”
Photo © Komedia Bath
Despite industry-wide challenges, the Bath venue has recorded some of its strongest trading years following the pandemic and attributes much of its resilience to having become a Community Benefit Society.
The spokesperson continued: “As we have sadly seen so many other venues around the country succumb to Covid-19 and cost of living pressures, we consider ourselves extremely lucky to have the support of our amazing community, and plan to keep on growing and improving with every passing year.”
Several other venues across the country have since followed suit and adopted a community-ownership business model, including Bristol’s Exchange, Le Pub in Newport and UPP Oxford.
Conversely, a 2023 report conducted by Music Venues Trust found that 125 other UK independent venues had either closed or stopped hosting live music, including local favourite, Moles.
