Soaring MDF prices, extortionate interval drinks, cash-strapped audiences: the arts are staring inflation in the face | Charlotte Higgins
Imagine a small music venue. There are many such places dotted around the UK, the sort of spot where you might catch an up-and-coming band, some folk or jazz, the occasional standup comedian. I’m thinking of a real venue, capacity 500, in the south of England. There’s nowhere else to see live music in this town, and it’s been going for decades. Only it may not be around for much longer. It’s just had its electricity bill, from the largely state-owned French company EDF (fill in your own ironies). That bill is 640% higher…