2020 was supposed to be a year of celebration for The Stables as it turned 50. Instead, it is turning out to be one of the most challenging periods we have faced. Founded in 1969 as a Charity by jazz legends Sir John Dankworth and Dame Cleo Laine, The Stables opened its doors for its first concert on 6 February 1970.

Since then it has gone on to become one of the best loved music venues in the country. It usually presents over 400 gigs a year and over 200 learning & participation sessions and it produces the award-winning biennial IF: Milton Keynes International Festival which we founded in 2010.

However, in 2019 The Stables was hit with significant costs for expert noise and legal advice in a battle to protect its future from new housing developments being planned right on its boundary with total expenditure on planning consultations exceeding £100,000.

Thanks to the support of thousands of individuals and expert advice from noise consultants and specialist lawyers, conditions were applied to the planning permission to protect The Stables from private noise nuisance complaints. Sadly, the developers are now seeking to overturn those conditions and further legal costs continue to be incurred as we continue to make the case for the protection needed to safeguard The Stables future. For a full update see our website.

Fortunately, The Stables was able to draw on reserves to fund its legal fees to this point, but now we need your help. As we find ourselves in the grip of a world-wide pandemic and enforced closure due to the Government lockdown rules for entertainment venues we are rapidly depleting our limited reserves.

Since March, our income has dropped by around 95% and we have no clarity of when we will be able to resume our operations.

We have reduced our costs to retain a small skeleton team to deal with customer enquiries, rescheduling performances and dealing with the essential maintenance of the facilities.

Every penny spent on planning matters is a penny that risks our capacity to get through this challenging period, resume our concerts and education programmes and maintain our venue.

We hold The Stables in trust for future generations. You can help secure our future plans with a donation during this difficult time.

Thank you to everyone for all your support - it means a great deal to everyone.