Think of the biggest names in UK music – Lewis Capaldi, Stormzy, Wolf Alice – and you’ll find careers that can be traced back to Britain’s grassroots music venues (GMVs). As venues fall like dominoes, with 20 per cent of the industry workforce losing their jobs in 2025, we risk wiping out these launch pads for homegrown underground talent too.
This summer, The Independent is putting independent music venues front and centre. In partnership with the Music Venue Trust, we will be highlighting eight grassroots venues from across the UK, speaking to the people in charge about what it really takes to run an independent music venue in 2026. If you’re feeling hungry, you’re in luck. Today, we’re off to Voodoo Daddy’s Showroom in Norwich for pizza, retro video games, and (you guessed it!) plenty of live music.
Each venue selected by the Main Stage series will receive 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.
Voodoo Daddy’s Showroom
You might not suspect to find a dive bar in Norwich – let alone in the basement of an old Betfred. But that’s exactly what Voodoo Daddy’s Showroom is: a 150-capacity live venue downstairs, and a chaotically decorated bar and pizza kitchen upstairs where people would have once handed over their betting slips. Voodoo Daddy’s has form when it comes to inhabiting odd spaces, Ben Street tells The Independent: “Prior to its current location on London Street, Voodoo Daddy’s used to be located on the other side of the city in an old strip club. It still had some of the original dancing poles when we moved in!”
Voodoo Daddy’s Showroom is all about the fun. There’s no designated genre on display here: pop and rock, and even cabaret, comedy and drag are all welcome. “The monthly listings are always a plethora of different sounds and art forms featuring the most exciting new touring acts from across the globe to local band nights, jams and festivals. With the low ceiling, low stage and an impressive array of lighting it looks and sounds amazing and with very little dividing the bands and the audience it creates a really special intimate experience,” says Street.
How would you describe Voodoo Daddy’s Showroom to a newcomer?
Street: It’s a unique space. The walls and shelves around the bar are covered in nostalgic music posters, random tatt and memorabilia, from Chucky dolls to star wars figurines, a Tenacious D painting with a devil that looks suspiciously like Trump and a giant dinosaur head mounted right in the middle. Grab a giant slice of delicious pizza and a Rob Zombie cocktail and head through an unassuming door at the back left that leads down to the basement where you could be greeted by any genre of live music – or depending on the night, maybe even some comedy or drag cabaret!
Top this all off with a rotating menu of the best regional beers, retro arcade games and free Guitar Hero and it’s not hard to see why Voodoo’s has become the best spot in the city for an alternative night of good music and entertainment!
What’s next on the cards for Voodoo Daddy’s Showroom?
Street: Thanks to the work and support of LIVE, MVT and VIY, we’ve recently been able to transform our greenroom into an artist accommodation unit, complete with bunk beds, a kitchen, a shower and a washer dryer. This should allow us to accommodate more touring acts and entice more international talent to Norwich. We’ve also just acquired the old hair salon next door to the venue and are currently in the process of transforming the space into a kind of Ronnie Scott’s, Jazz Café-esque venue and wine bar, hosting some of the best jazz and soul acts from across the region and beyond.
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It’s a hugely collaborative project and as we progress, we’re working with more and more independent promoters; helping to provide a stepping stone for young artists and promoters to gain valuable experience and springboard their careers.
What are some of the major challenges you face as a venue?
Street: There are so many costs from staffing, maintenance and utility costs to artist fees, tech equipment, licenses, insurance and a myriad of other overheads. We have to take in all of these considerations every show and are constantly walking a tightrope between breaking even, making a little money (which pretty much all gets reinvested in more bookings or fixing equipment) or losing a chunk. With very little in reserve, this can easily push us into a precarious position.
The hours are long (I often work through weekends to catch up on heaps of admin, new bookings and show settlements) and there’s a ton of pressure piled on you from all sides. You try to cater for demanding agents and managers, please expectant audiences and keep one eye on staff well-being, all whilst trying to keep a business afloat with dwindling returns and arts funding programs.
What would you say makes running a music venue so worthwhile?
Street: Despite all the challenges and hardships, I don’t think I could get the same level of deep fulfilment anywhere else. We do it because we love live music and performance and we want to be able to platform, nurture and develop those artists, whether they’re dropping by Voodoos on a tour date or taking to the stage for the first time at one of our jam events or open mics. It just feels great to watch the scene in your city flourish and see artists you’ve supported go from strength to strength and build a career from their art.
I get a similar feeling from seeing the community that has grown up around the venue and the audiences that feel at home here and return time and time again. I know we’ve created something special, and that’s worth working and fighting for.
Can you tell us about one of your recent favourite gigs at Voodoo Daddy’s Showroom?
Ah that’s a tough question! We had a Danish act called Smag På Dig Selv at Voodoo Daddy’s a couple of weeks back and they performed one of the most feral and intense sets I’ve ever seen. It’s two saxophones and an insanely talented drummer playing a genre-defying fusion of acoustic techno, punk and nu-jazz, spanning everything from Afrobeat and hip-hop to 90s Eurodance, gabber, and trance. They took the audience on a journey and by the end of the show they’d covered every part of the venue, including at one point disappearing upstairs to the bar, probably for a mid-show pint!
