‘It’s easy to start things in this city, but it’s really hard to keep them alive’

Music venues and other creative spaces in the North Docks are being pushed out by commercialisation and gentrification. Here’s how they’re fighting to stay put for the long haul

Dear members — welcome to today’s edition. Regular Post contributor Ella Benson Easton is back with her first story of the year, about a recent spate of venue closures across Liverpool — you may remember Laurence’s recent piece about QUARRY being displaced by a block of flats — and why creative industries are so vulnerable here and around the country. Across the UK, 93% of grassroots music venues are tenants, and consequently they’re vulnerable to the whims of landlords seeking to maximise their revenues. Now that commercial encroachment has pushed many venues out of the Baltic, those in the “Wild West” of the North Docks are looking for creative solutions.

That’s all below — but first, your Post briefing.