At a time when the UK’s grassroots music scene is under unprecedented pressure, Deptford Junction has taken a decisive step to protect its future.
According to the Music Venue Trust 2025 Annual Report (MVT), 30 grassroots music venues have permanently closed between July 2024 and July 2025, with another 58 ceasing to operate as live gig spaces. While the rate of decline has slowed since 2018, over 53% of surviing UK venues reported no profit, facing 19% loss of jobs, which equates to 6,000.
Against this backdrop, Deptford Junction, a family-run grassroots venue, bar and creative space in Southeast London, has become a Community Interest Company (CIC), formalising its commitment to artists, community and independent culture at a moment when many similar spaces are disappearing.
Founded by Southeast London-based artists, Deptford Junction opened in August 2024 as a rehearsal space, while also hosting monthly events, vintage sales, and makers markets, before securing its full premises licence in August 2025, allowing it to expand into a fully-fledged live music venue. The move to CIC formalises what has been central to the space from the outset: prioritising cultural value over commercial gain.
Since then, it has quickly become a hub for emerging talent, DIY promoters, and local audiences. Its bar champions independence too, serving beers from East London brewery Pillars and stocking hard-to-find Australian staples like VB, a small but telling nod to the family roots.
Since opening, Deptford Junction has hosted emerging and established artists alike, including Pale Air, Goya Gumbani, Papo2oo4, Southy, IMISSMYMOM, Sevy Verna and Stegonaute, alongside benefit events such as the recurring Total Liberation Palestine fundraisers.
Now operating as a CIC, the venue is formalising what has been central to its ethos from day one: prioritising cultural value over commercial gain. Profits are reinvested into projects that support artists, audiences and the surrounding community, with a growing programme of workshops, rehearsals and collaborative initiatives designed to give emerging artists first-hand experience of the full journey, from booking a show to stepping on stage.
This community-first approach is reflected in the venue’s regular open-door events. This Thursday (12 February 2026), Deptford Junction will host a meet-the-team session and open jam, inviting local artists, creatives and residents to get to know the space and the people behind it. Doors open from 4pm to 10pm, with the jam running from 6pm onwards, and attendees are encouraged to bring their instruments and get involved.
Hidden beneath Platform 2 of Deptford train station on Ffinch Street, Deptford Junction is deliberately unassuming from the outside. Tucked away in an industrial estate, the space opens into a fully immersive environment centred on music, performance and community. Despite its discreet location, it sits firmly in the heart of Zone 2 and has quickly built a reputation as a welcoming, inclusive space where new sounds can thrive.
Speaking on the transition, co-founder Kyle Creaton says becoming a CIC allows the team to “protect the values the space was built on, support artists at grassroots level, and continue growing in a way that stays connected to the local community.”
As pressures continue to mount on London’s independent venues, Deptford Junction’s evolution offers a note of optimism, showing how small, artist-led spaces can adapt, grow and survive without losing sight of the communities and cultures they exist to serve.
