Small music venues across the city could be among some of the hardest hit businesses due to the coronavirus crisis, a charity has said.

Mark Davyd from the Music Venue Trust told The Glasgow Times the lock-down measures, which include indefinite temporary closure of all bars, clubs, restaurants and theatres, are "catastrophic for Scottish art" and that some small venues "may never financially recover".

So far, 36 music venues in Glasgow have requested urgent help from the Music Venue Trust, which represents 670 venues.

The Trust has set up a £1million Grassroots Music Venue Crisis Fund, which is a direct appeal to the music business for help, and are appealing to artists to begin fundraising wherever possible - particularly more established artists who began their career in grassroots venues.

Glasgow Times:

Mark said: "Music venues are in a unique financial position which has meant many are illegible for many of the government financial aids.

"From our research only 114 grassroots music venues out of the 670 we represent are currently financially secure for the next eight weeks.

"The other 556 venues are at imminent risk of being permanently closed down. Mark my words, if they go they will never come back."

Glasgow Times:

Martin Woods, owner of Saint Lukes and The Amsterdam Bar, told The Glasgow Times:"The public need to have faith that the industry will rebound, and keep buying tickets for the rescheduled shows. Please don't be scared to come back out again, if that's what it comes down to."

Brian Reynolds, co-owner of The Hug and Pint and Blue Arrow Jazz Club: "This is an unprecedented and unpredictable time. No one's ever seen anything like it and nobody really knows what's going to happen, or for how long - and that's the scary part.

"However, we're trying to stay positive, following government guidance with regard to how we can plan for the future and using any resources available to us - including what we've raised from the amazing public support of our crowdfunding campaign and delivery service - to support staff in the meantime.

"It's definitely going to be tough, especially the longer the situation continues. However, the hope is that we can get through this lockdown period with as little long term damage as possible and be able to bring our staff back, re-open and get back to what we love doing most."

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