The Sound Lounge - The First Carbon Neutral Grass Roots Music Venue in the UK
15 July 2021 - Press releaseThe Sound Lounge in south London is proud to announce that it has become the UK’s first grassroots music venue to become carbon neutral. The venue has received CarbonNeutral® company certification as of July 1, 2021.
The independent, community-based, non-profit organisation has been running since 2015 in various south London locations, building a large and loyal following and recognition around the world.
The Sound Lounge has swiftly become a widely-admired cultural focal point in Sutton, reaching far beyond its ever-growing impact as a music venue. By day it is also a welcoming, plant-based café and restaurant with a programme of community workshops and training for local people suffering from disadvantage. By night, it is winning praise far and wide as a place where culture happens.
Up to six nights a week, the Sound Lounge stages live music from across the music spectrum. It welcomes the newest talent, emerging artists on the roots music scene and world-famous Grammy, BRIT and Ivor Novello Award-winners, including Chris Difford (Squeeze), John Illsley (Dire Straits) and Graham Gouldman (10cc), all of whom will play at the venue in the coming weeks.
Word is spreading across the music industry about the Sutton venue’s beautiful theatre stage, in part built by young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), enabling them to achieve their City & Guilds Entry Level trade qualification with Volunteer It Yourself (VIY).
Sound Lounge founders, musicians Hannah White and Keiron Marshall, had always set out to create something meaningful and impactful, beyond the accepted bounds of what an arts venue can achieve. Adopting measures to become a certified CarbonNeutral® company, in accordance with The CarbonNeutral Protocol, was a natural step. White and Marshall have stated that being a small business serving the local community comes with
responsibility. As Hannah says: “We can’t claim to be making a positive impact on people around us if we are actually causing harm, even if it’s in an indirect way.”
Some of the measures in place to reduce The Sound Lounge’s impact on the planet, include:
A 100% plant-based & seasonal menu
Energy from 100% renewable sources
None of the waste is sent to landfill
Locally brewed beer
A full range of carbon neutral wines
A range of teas from a solar-powered plant which is also carbon neutral
All cleaning products are non-toxic, gentle on the planet & plastic-free
A small allotment garden for zero-carbon produce for the menu
Furniture which is all upcycled, re-used, vintage, not-new
All food waste is either composted in The Sound Lounge garden or recycled by a local 100% green waste company
All takeaway packaging is 100% compostable
Small decisions lead to big changes, and most people want to make ethical choices, but too often businesses have made those choices difficult or even impossible. The Sound Lounge believes its responsibility is to make the right choices accessible. “If we can do it, anyone can do it,” says White who, with her husband Marshall, is on a mission to shout loudly about their principles, to encourage others to adopt them too.
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