V&A's 'Lost Music Venues' display celebrates and preserves UK club culture

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has opened 'Lost Music Venues', a display curated by Harriet Reed that memorializes and celebrates the UK's vanishing live music landscape. The exhibition features photography, posters, fashion, tickets, set lists, and immersive elements like a disco ball from the Pioneer Club in St Albans and giant metal doors from soon-to-be-demolished venues. Designed by Misty Buckley with sound by Stewart Baxter and AV by NorthHouse, the space recreates the visceral feel of nightlife. The display highlights the cultural and political importance of venues, from small gig spaces in Newport to nightclubs in Belfast, and includes archival material from the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park, which campaigned to stay open in 1980. Reed emphasizes that music venues are 'the engine of the creative industries' and that losing their history would mean losing a vital piece of UK cultural heritage. The exhibition ends on an active note with an interactive quiz matching visitors to ideal venues like Band on the Wall in Manchester or the Windmill in London, encouraging support for thriving spaces via the Music Venue Trust's gig guide.