New live music venue is a hit

A new live music venue is up and running in Heanor and already bringing in some sold-out crowds.
Shaun and Nikki Grayson of Codnor.Shaun and Nikki Grayson of Codnor.
Shaun and Nikki Grayson of Codnor.

The venue is housed in the old Coronation Club and is called NEM, as in Live Music – Nothing Else Matters – and is the third music venue to be opened by Shaun and Nikki Grayson, who live in Codnor.

They began with the Codnor Inn, followed by the Bunny Hop in Langley Mill, which is also a very popular micro-pub, and aim to add a fourth venue to their portfolio later this year with the re-opening of the closed-down Moss Cottage Hotel at Ripley.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It is great news for the area with live music venues closing down at a rate of knots all over the country.

But it’s all a labour of love for a pair of music fanatics and they are putting on a range of musical genres, both original bands and tribute bands

“We opened the Codnor Inn in March last year, then the Bunny Hop,” said Nikki.

“We got bands in and more people wanting to see them so we decided to give this a go.

Hide Ad

“It’s the old Coronation Club. The premises are fantastic – exactly what we wanted. But we now just need people to come and support it.”

Hide Ad

She added: “We are trying to cover everything from Motown to punk – every kind of music – and we have live bands on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

“It’s been up and down so far. We’ve had fantastic support for some bands and nothing for others. But we’ll keep going until we get that support.

“I think we need to promote it more. We have a web site, a Facebook page and the banners outside, plus word of mouth which is massive for us as, once people come and enjoy the night, they’ll go and tell their friends and hopefully people will come.”

Hide Ad

The music/pubs business is a big change in career direction for them both.

“I was a bank manager and Shaun was an electrician,” said Nikki. “But it was just the love of music that made us give this a go.

Hide Ad

“We also have the real ales at the Bunny Hope and that is flying – we get a lot of support there. We raised just under £5,500 for charity in a year there. That’s doing really well.

“The Moss Cottage is coming on board soon – we want to be open for Chritsmas. That will be venue number four and it will have an Eighties theme. We’ll have the live music plus Sky Sports and try to make a go of it.”

The new NEM venue is situated at 55 Derby Road, Heanor, DE75 7QJ. To see the line-up of bands on the way see nemlive.co.uk or www.facebook.com/NEMLive

Related topics: