WINCHESTER’S most popular music venue is no longer under threat of permanent closure, according to an industry charity, writes Sophie Day.

The Music Venue Trust (MVT) has announced that The Railway Inn is one of 13 venues no longer on its Save Our Venue Red List.

In November the charity revealed its Traffic Light campaign, a new phase of its hugely successful #saveourvenues campaign which is seeking to Reopen Every Venue Safely after the Covid crisis. The Traffic Light campaign threw the focus of the charity’s fundraising work behind securing the future of 30 venues who were ineligible to receive funding from, or wholly or partially unsuccessful in their application to, the Government backed Culture Recovery Funds.

Mark Davyd, chief executive of Music Venue Trust, said: “We want to thank every artist, every audience member, every member of our community for taking direct action which means we are able to remove these 13 venues from the Red List right now.

“The love shown for these venues continues to demonstrate how important they are to people and to our towns and cities. Music Venue Trust is committed to reopening every venue safely and we are going to carry on working through this crisis until that outcome is achieved.”

In May last year The Railway Inn, on St Paul’s Hill, Fulflood, had no choice but to appeal for donations and a crowdfunding campaign raised almost £20,000, thanks to the support of 1,121 people online.