Hootananny is special because it is a proper built up from scratch, family owned grassroots music venue which is completely full of love and passion.

Hoots has consistently been an underdog. We’ve not got big financial backing, we’re not a national company, and we’re not owned by one of the big mega promoters - yet we still hold our own and a big part of our goal is to show that you don’t have to be in the ‘inner circle’ venues, you can still put on great gigs with top artists; and create fantastic experiences. We hold our own.

It’s not just a music venue though, it’s a community hub. Hoots is full of festival vibes, it’s a special place.

It’s presented lots of varying challenges, but due to a lot of hard work and ingenuity we’ve overcome everything that’s been thrown at us.

Things have gone up and down, but we’ve powered through.

I won’t go into the specifics, as it’s the same issues you’ve heard a million times that everyone else is going through, but we’ve come this far, so we feel like we can get through literally anything that’s thrown at us. It’s certainly been an experience that’s made us stronger and more resilient.

By neglecting my university course work and working on putting on parties instead, which now, many years later, evidently got way out of hand!

Damn… I don’t even know what the first venue I went to was, but I’ll mention a venue that really inspired me:

Passing Clouds. That place was special, the atmosphere was something else.

I only got to go there a handful of times before it’s unfortunate closure, but there was something about that place which just made me feel something that I hadn’t experienced in a music venue before.

Proper festival vibes in the middle of London. The people, the music, everything about it was different and special. Hard for me to describe without sounding wanky, but if you know, you know.

Great, it’s proper grassroots music. I feel like I’m talking to a human, and you guys speak to me like I’m a person too.

Lots of the bigger agencies talk to you like you’re just a transaction and it is totally charmless. Every time I work with an agent at MM, I feel I am getting to know their personality a bit more each time.

I would highly recommend working with Midnight Mango, a rare grassroots agency with nice people who respect promoters and venues; as well as the artists.