Newcastle electronic music venues still struggling despite growth

The electronic music scene in Newcastle is experiencing a boom, outpacing London with a 72% year-on-year growth, according to a new report. But venues on the ground say they are still struggling under the weight of funding issues and the cost of living crisis. So is the city's club scene truly thriving? The report on electronic music, which was commissioned by the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), aimed to understand the economic value and cultural significance of the genre to the UK economy, stating it generated £2.47bn in 2025. And part of that drive came from the North, with Newcastle said to be a major player in a move away from London. Newcastle enjoyed nine times London's 8% growth in 2025, the report claims. But after the statistic was clipped up and shared all over social media, venues in the city say the stats could be painting a false picture of the health of Newcastle's local scene. Kate Hodgkinson is the director of Cobalt Studios in Ouseburn, just east of the city centre. Cobalt opened as artist studios around 1998 before becoming a fully fledged venue in 2018 and over the years Hodgkinson has made it her mission to build a diverse and inclusive space on the fr