In 2007, the owners of Komedia, the well-known arts and entertainment venue in Brighton, were invited by Bath & North East Somerset Council (BANES) to transform the historic Grade II listed Beau Nash building into a vibrant mixed-use live entertainment venue. Originally opened in 1908 as the first cinema in the West of England, the building had stood derelict for many years.
After extensive renovation, Komedia Bath opened in November 2008, winning the National Constructing Excellence Award for the Best Renovation of a Listed Building in the UK.
From its opening year onwards, Komedia Bath became a key part of the cultural fabric of Bath, offering a diverse programme of stand-up comedy, live music, cabaret, spoken word, community events and more. The venue quickly established itself as one of the most important live entertainment spaces in the region.
In 2017, the owners made the bold decision to transfer ownership of Komedia Bath to the local community—making it one of the first entertainment venues in the UK to adopt the Community Benefit Society (CBS) model.
At the time, many pubs were being saved by community ownership, but no similar model existed for independent arts venues. Inspired by the success of these grassroots campaigns, the team believed community ownership was the best way forward for protecting Komedia’s long-term future and establishing a model that other independent venues could follow. Since then, several others—including Bristol’s Exchange, Le Pub in Newport and UPP Oxford—have adopted similar approaches.
Komedia Bath launched a community share offer with a target of £350,000, allowing people to invest from as little as £250, with smaller donations also welcomed. Working in partnership with Crowdfunder UK, the team spent months reaching out to local residents—giving early-morning radio interviews, attending community events, and hosting a fundraising gala at the venue.
With vital support from local people and match funding from Big Society Capital, the campaign exceeded its target in just 68 days. This milestone enabled Komedia Bath to begin its legal transition from a Limited Company to a Community Benefit Society. Although the process took longer than expected, Komedia Bath officially became a registered CBS with the Financial Conduct Authority in 2019 (Registration Number: 8079).
Today, Komedia Bath is proudly owned by 227 community Members, each holding an equal vote regardless of the size of their investment. This democratic structure ensures no single Member has more influence than any other, reinforcing the venue’s community-first ethos.
Komedia Bath is now guided by a Board of Directors made up of Members, employees, and specialists from the local community with expertise in accessibility, education, the music industry, and business development. Alongside regular board meetings, the venue hosts an Annual General Meeting, giving Members the opportunity to vote on key decisions and stay informed about how the business is performing.
Since becoming a Community Benefit Society, Komedia Bath has experienced some of its strongest years of trading, despite the challenges of the global pandemic and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. While many venues across the UK have sadly closed, Komedia Bath continues to thrive thanks to the support of its dedicated community.
From the beginning, Komedia has been built on a deep love of live performance and a belief in its ability to enrich lives and strengthen communities. As a CBS, the venue has refined and expanded its core values, ensuring that its work continues to serve, inspire, and uplift the people of Bath and beyond.
We want to ensure that we are here for the long run, providing a diverse array of events for the people of Bath and the surrounding areas. We thank everyone who invested in or donated towards our Community Ownership Campaign in 2017 and helped secure the future of the venue. But, we also rely on the skills and expertise of our small, dedicated management team to keep day-to-day operations running smoothly and successfully. We understand that the venue wouldn’t be where it is today without these people and we make it a priority to provide training, support their growth and invest in them.
We want to nurture local and upcoming talent, as well as those aspiring towards careers in the events sector. With partnerships now in place with Bath Spa University, The University of Bath and Bath College, we are building strong links between the venue and the local education sector and we are learning from each other. Many of our current team members are students or graduates of our local higher education institutions and countless performers have reached our stages through their courses.
We want to be part of a vibrant city and we see other entertainment businesses as offering choice for the community, not competition for us. We work with Bath Festivals, Bath Carnival, Bath Fringe, FilmBath, The Children’s Literature Festival, MUW Shed as well lots of other fantastic local organisations and strongly believe that a venue can only succeed if the rest of the arts ecosystem around it is also healthy and supported.
We are a member of the Music Venues Trust and believe that the grassroots music sector has a stronger voice together than as individual entities.
We want to be accessible to everyone. We’re still working on this goal, but since becoming a CBS, we’ve implemented British Sign Language interpretation at some of our most popular events and we’re proud to run a hugely popular club night exclusively for adults with learning disabilities, in partnership with Bath Mencap. We’re working towards optimising our website in line with Attitude is Everything guidelines for accessibility, have improved staff training on the subject and are always striving towards better inclusivity in our programming and wider approach.
We want to be a safe space for all artists, customers and staff who enter the building. We are part of Bath BID, work hand in hand with Safe & Secure and provide anti-sexual harassment training to all staff members as part of the #NeverOk Campaign.
Money isn’t everything. We believe in keeping our ticket prices, drinks prices and booking fees as fair as possible to minimise personal financial status being a barrier to entry. We provide concessionary rate tickets for all of our most popular in-house productions and have an ever-growing programme of free entry events, which are supported by funding from Arts Council England. These include our Sunday afternoon Electric Bar Sessions and our Free Community Music Festivals, which feature five bands across two stages. All ages are welcome and there is no ticket fee whatsoever.
Sustainability matters. We care about being a green venue and have slashed the amount of single use plastic we have by eliminating plastic straws and introducing reusable hard plastic cups and a Cup Deposit Scheme. We are currently looking into having solar panels installed on our roof.
Sharing knowledge is important. As a Community Benefit Society, we believe we have a responsibility to help other venues that are looking to convert to community ownership and will happily discuss our experiences and share what we have learned. Please just ask!
We care what you think. If you have any feedback about the venue or what we are trying to do, please share your thoughts with us. You can reach us at: info@komediabath.co.uk
Thanks to live events lovers like you, Komedia Bath became a community benefit society 2019.
Community StoryAt Komedia, we're committed to being accessible to everyone and are always working to improve your experience at the venue.
Accessibility InfoLocated in the heart of beautiful Bath, Komedia is just a stone's throw from the city's historical attractions and is easily accessible via the public transport network.
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