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Exeter's popular independent music venue The Cavern has revealed it is at threat of permanent closure.

The club in Gandy Street is in financial difficulty after having to close its doors last month as part of lockdown measures imposed across the country.

A Save the Cavern campaign has been launched in the hope that when restrictions are lifted, the club can reopen and will be around for many more years to come.

The Cavern is Exeter’s longest running live music venue. It opened its doors for the first time back in 1991, and Quicksand were the first band to perform there.

The 220-capacity venue has seen some of the biggest rock bands in the world start off their career there, including Muse, Coldplay, Biffy Clyro, Scouting For Girls, Kaiser Chiefs, The Cranberries and Mumford & Sons.

Muse, from Teignmouth, first arrived at the Cavern in October 1994, and played there 12 times across the 1990s. The trio took part in the final at the Battle of the Bands in 1995, but were beaten to the title by Honey Sucks.

Royal Blood also played there in 2014, and Frank Turner helped celebrate the Cavern’s 25 anniversary in 2015 by performing in the small venue.

The club was severely damaged by a fire in 2016, which was believed to have been started by an electrical fault.

Luckily, the fire didn’t spread further because of the brick and concrete infrastructure, and the £3,000 target that was set-up on a Just Giving page reached its target in just two days, with the money helping towards the repairs.

Now it is hoping to raise £10,000 as part of a national initiative.

The Cavern said: "The Cavern is part of a national initiative launched by Music Venue Trust to prevent the closure of hundreds of independent music venues. Our venue faces closure because of being closed due to Covid-19.

"Your donations will be used to keep the venue open and put together a programme of live shows.

"If we hit our target, and we can prevent the closure of our venue, everything above the amount we need will be donated to the Music Venue Trust GMV Crisis Fund to protect other venues just like ours, right across the country."

To make a donation click here