The music industry received an emphatic reminder of the importance of grassroots venues at this year’s Music Week Awards.
Kicking off the star-studded event that celebrated a huge year in the business, the public-voted award for Grassroots Venue: Spirit Of The Scene went to The Globe.
Based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, the 120-capacity venue is community-owned, which events manager and board member Stephen Ferrell emphasised in an interview with Music Week backstage on the night.
“I'm really surprised, I didn't expect this at all,” he said. “I was talking to a lot of local venues in the North East and saying that the nomination was the win, because a venue from the North East probably wasn't going to win this. I don't really see the grassroots venues in competition, so it's great to win, but I think this is a win for everybody that was nominated. It's just really good to see grassroots venues in general being recognised, it’s a win for grassroots music in general.”
As usual, the winner was joined on stage by representatives from every shortlisted venue, who took the spotlight before the likes of Polydor Label Group, Capitol, Sony Music Publishing, Partisan and more followed, with Strat winner Jason Iley closing proceedings.
Ferrell had a clear message for the many companies and sectors in the room.
“If you look at the big, wider industry, everything they represent started in the grassroots,” he stated. “So, without that, if the grassroots doesn't survive, there's no pipeline for what they do. I'm not trying to push that as any kind of negative, it's just about having some recognition of the importance of the grassroots. It’s the thing that fuels everything else, the basis of it. Everything else is built on that foundation.”
It feels much more positive now than it has been in the past. It really feels like there's more recognition for what we do
Stephen Ferrell, The Globe
He also praised the work of the Music Venue Trust.
“It's not all doom and gloom,” Ferrell told us. “I've been involved with the venue since 2019, for the first few years I was a sound engineer, and since 2023 I've been events manager. Although things are quite difficult, I think things are turning, it's starting to get more positive. It feels much more positive now than it has been in the past. It really feels like there's more recognition for what we do. The MVT is a big part of pushing that story.”
Finally, Ferrell offered a flavour of what’s on offer at The Globe.
“It's obviously a difficult financial time for a lot of venues, but we had some really, really good events last year,” he explained. “Fifteen local bands got together and put on a festival they called Globe Fest, just to raise funds for the venue. We also hosted Trans Stock, Newcastle’s first trans and non-binary festival, which was really cool. We do a lot of other regular events, and we're a really good community venue and we represent lots of different people.”
“We’re still quite a small venue, and it's also good to be a venue that gives a lot of bands their first opportunity to play,” he concluded. “I think that's a really important part of what we do.”
Relive all the action from the Music Week Awards 2026 here.
FOLLOW 
