Issue 325 – Cheese and Grain nominated for national ‘live music venue’ award

THE Cheese and Grain in Frome has been nominated for the ‘Live Music Venue of the Year’ category at this year’s prestigious national Music Week Awards.

Staff at the Cheese and Grain say they were shocked when contacted by the Music Week Awards judging panel, who expressed interest in putting the Cheese and Grain forward for nomination.
The Frome venue will be up against prestigious live music venues such as the iconic Royal Albert Hall in London, the 02 Academy in Leeds, the LG Arena in Birmingham and Brighton’s Concorde 2.
Programme and marketing manager Martin Dimery said, “There is some hard competition and I think it’s fair to say we are punching above our weight, but we strongly believe that in terms of scale of the venue and Frome, we have done as much for live music as some of the other larger venues. We hope that the award nomination will attract more big name acts to visit the venue.
“It has been a tough year at the Cheese and Grain, to be nominated is fantastic, a real testament to how hard the staff work here.”
Patron of the Cheese and Grain, Emily Eavis said, “I am delighted with the nomination, this is excellent news!”
Over the years the Cheese and Grain has held a number of big name acts including Robert Plant, Babyshambles, the Stranglers, Editors and Seth Lakeman.
Coming up the venue will have performances from Cast on Saturday the 11th of June at 8.00pm; Turin Brakes with Tom McRae on Friday July 8th at 8.00pm and Cara Dillion on Friday the 15th of July at 8.00pm.
Having been nominated for an award, members of the Cheese and Grain would like to attend the prestigious event, but are concerned that the ticket prices are prohibitive.
Martin Dimery said, “We are now looking for funding so that a few of us can attend the awards ceremony in London on the 24th of May.”
According to the Music Week Awards website, prices for individual seats are £240 plus VAT, £2,000 plus VAT for a table of 10, or £2,400 plus VAT for a table of 12.
“We have a greater chance of winning the category if we attend,” said Martin. “This is the biggest awards ceremony for the music industry in the country – just to be nominated is incredible.”
To help fund members of the Cheese and Grain to attend the Music Week Awards ceremony, contact the venue on 01373 455768.