Rehearsal Space

[Lozz196]

Both places I use are pretty decent, have to be booked up & paid for in advance by card (probably a by-product of Covid). They’re both around the £13 per hour rate.

[obi 2 kenobi]

55 minutes ago, jezzaboy said:

I have used Berkley  in Glasgow for years. It`s been £35 for 3 hours for ages now and I`m quite surprised that Steve the owner hasn`t put up his prices yet. There is 13 studios and the guys that work in there are cool and most have been there for years.

 

For us it beats all the other places hands down apart form the parking which can be a pain.

Is that Steve Cheyne? I used to rehearse at Berkeley in Washington St and before that when it was in Berkeley St (hence the name). Used to see Deacon Blue, Hue & Cry and other name Glasgow bands at the Washington St one

[jezzaboy]

4 hours ago, obi 2 kenobi said:

Is that Steve Cheyne? I used to rehearse at Berkeley in Washington St and before that when it was in Berkeley St (hence the name). Used to see Deacon Blue, Hue & Cry and other name Glasgow bands at the Washington St one

 

Aye pretty sure that`s his second name. It`s actually Berkley 2 as you say due to moving and you still see the occasional largish band in there. 

[Beedster]

The big thing for me was always the people who worked there. I remember a really tough and hot summer’s night rehearsing Cream by Prince in a room in Camden. Walked out of the room almost despondent with the crapness and the guy at the desk said ‘It’s almost there guys, harder song than you think, just keep at it’. We did and it came together. As ever, with recording, rehearsing, and gigging, it’s less the room than the people 👍

[Dad3353]

38 minutes ago, Beedster said:

... hot summer’s night rehearsing Cream by Prince ... harder song than you think ...

 

I dunno; I think I could drum that, no problem. 

[TimR]

Like any business, you need to diversify and spot other opportunities amd work really hard, I don't think just having a space for bands to practice in will cut it.

 

https://www.thepracticeroomz.info/ in Stevenage have a wide range of services, from rehearsal rooms, recording, providing live PA services, organising multiple line up gigs, plus being all round really nice guys. 

 

I think Farm Factory at Welwyn and Apollo Audio at Hertford, make money during the day for recording pro acts etc.  

 

 

[Phil Starr]

We rehearse in a small studio just outside of Taunton. It's a light industrial unit rented by another band and it's operated largely on a trust basis. Booking by email/messenger and a key safe in a private location nearby. It is £10 per hour with an expectation that you'll book a four hour 'slot'. It's fitted out with the bands practice gear, basic but OK. The drumkit 'works' and the bass amp is an old Behringer Combo but everything you need is there and we take our own gear anyway. They have a recording facility but we've never used it. It's not heavily used or advertised and I think they probably get just enough to pay the rent/energy costs so their use is paid for. It's not spotless but some local attended rehearsal spaces are a lot worse so someone is cleaning it from time to time. At best in terms of generating income was a studio just outside Exeter. it was an outbuilding in a rural area but near the city and owned outright so no rent. It was booked pretty much from 10am-10pm before covid, we had to look for times a couple of weeks in advance so the owner must have been grossing maybe £35-40k a year

 

I've been idly wondering about doing this for our band so some quick calculations. Going on Zoopla light industrial units are renting around £6-20+ per annum, per sq ft with a 500sq ft unit costing £5-6,000pa around most of the country based upon location. London as you'd expect is crazy as are most of the big cities but Bristol for example has a few places at around the £12 mark. Doubling that to allow for other costs You'd need £12,000 per year to pay the bills so you would need to get 24hours a week of rental income to pay for the space and if you could double that you'd get £12,000 income. If you wanted to do this commercially rather than just pin money you'd need multiple units and to fill those you'd need to be in a big city where costs would be higher. Nobody is going to get rich this way.

 

It's not much different from being in a band for most of us. A hobby that pays for itself if you are careful

[NoRhino]

19 hours ago, jezzaboy said:

I have used Berkley  in Glasgow for years. It`s been £35 for 3 hours for ages now and I`m quite surprised that Steve the owner hasn`t put up his prices yet. There is 13 studios and the guys that work in there are cool and most have been there for years.

 

For us it beats all the other places hands down apart form the parking which can be a pain.

I agree with everything you say here. Plus the toilets are clean. 

Price increased to £39 from early April.  

[Paul S]

Toilets are generally where rehearsal spaces let themselves down.  I can usually put up with sticky rugs and a mulch of detritus in the room but to discover there has been a dirty protest in the lavs is just awful.  To name and shame one of the worst, in a moment of madness I had a try out with another band at a place called London Road Music Tuition along London Rd in Leigh.  Dear God.  Set the bar, even more disgusting than a petrol station in the wilds of Mexico that was the previous winner - at least there is a sense of exp[ectation that public toilets in Mexico (should you actually find one) aren't going to be clean.

 

My band are extremely fortunate - drummer is a farmer and on site is a listed 12th century thatched barn.  30ft ceilings, superb acoustics, fitted kitchen, toilets.  The family used to use it for weddings but stopped so now it is pretty much a play area for his kids and our rehearsals.  We keep the pa set up in there.  Mind you it is bloody cold in winter!

 

Here's a promo shot from when they used to hire it out.

 

 

 

[Beedster]

11 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

 

I dunno; I think I could drum that, no problem. 

Drums weren’t the problem @Dad3353 🤔

[jezzaboy]

2 hours ago, NoRhino said:

I agree with everything you say here. Plus the toilets are clean. 

Price increased to £39 from early April.  

Me and my big gob!  Haven`t been in this month but when I booked it for later this month, Aiden didn`t mention it. It`s still worth it though, big rooms and plenty of spare kit if things go wrong.

[TimR]

4 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

Doubling that to allow for other costs

 

Are you including electricity and business rates? 

[Woodinblack]

Have never paid more than a £10'er for a 3 hour practice, quite a shock some of the 'good' prices here!

[goingdownslow]

£3.00 per hour here Vulcan Studios.

[TimR]

Paid £39 for 2 hours last week. But very good space. And few years ago paid a lot more for a massive space in Camden, but had grand piano etc in it. 

 

So depends if it's a room you can fit a drum kit and 3 people standing, or a large jazz band. 

[Cairobill]

Any recommendations for a nice studio space to the SE of London/fringes of Kent? Somewhere with good backline/PA/parking?

Like Ritz in Putney but SE, ideally. Not sure it exists but on the lookout for a nice place to make noise between Kent and SE London

Edited June 3, 2023 by Cairobill

[Franticsmurf]

I'm just trying to organise a rehearsal space for our band as I type. We have a couple of places in Swansea - the one I'm familiar with is in an industrial estate and which has three smallish rooms (just about ok for a 5 piece) and basic kit and goes for £10 per hour. But we've just managed to get a hall for £20 all day so we're going with that.