Frome Town Council has confirmed its support for the Cheese and Grain’s ambitious £1.6 million expansion project, which aims to improve the facilities at the popular venue.
At a recent full town council meeting, councillors unanimously agreed to support the project and work with Somerset Council to complete the necessary legal work to enable the project to proceed. The chamber also agreed to submit a planning application with a view to securing the necessary planning consent.
The large-scale project is set to see the Cheese and Grain offer new and improved studio facilities that are accessible to the public. The proposal would see a new building at the rear to house improved rehearsal spaces and editing suites, a new entrance lobby, and improvements to the market yard car park area to make the best use of Frome’s riverside.
“Partly because of the Cheese and Grain, Frome is becoming a hotspot of attraction for the music industry in the south-west. It’s got a really good reputation,” explained Cllr Sara Butler, who is also a trustee of the venue.
“We have this fantastic studio which is attracting talent from all over the world and bringing in lots of news and hype, but as a venue, we want to expand that,” she said. “It’s a technical studio. It needs an engineer, which can make it quite expensive. Part of the idea of expanding and creating a new studio is to make that more accessible to the community. To young bands, to young people who want to learn more about some of the creative aspects of running a studio and learning those skills. The Bert Jansch studio engineers are in demand in places like New York because we have the best sound engineers in the country and in the south-west, particularly.”
Cllr Butler explained that the Cheese and Grain’s lease is only for 15 years; however, Somerset Council has agreed to extend the lease by 30 years, which will enable the venue to apply for funding toward the project.
To help fund the expansion, the Cheese and Grain has applied for arts funding of up to £5 million and is currently awaiting a decision on whether this funding will be granted.
Pictured: An artist’s impression of the proposed new extension; copyright 2024 Swann Ltd