It’s so important to give musicians a stepping stone

Stewart Cross, Platform Tavern

Southampton is definitely my home. My mother met my father here in the late 1950s when he was about to go off to do his conscription. Once they were married they lived in London, but when I was ten we moved to Southampton and I’ve lived here ever since.

I joined the rag trade when left school, then I worked in reprographics for several years. I was also studying to be an interior designer but then my career took a different turn. I’d always been involved in the music business one way or another. I ran a mini festival for a few years and helped set up The Brook, finding and promoting bands. One day Richard Davey who owned The Brook with his business partner Bryn Lewis asked me if I wanted to become landlord of a pub they’d just taken on.

This turned out to be The Platform Tavern and I said I would try it for six months and stay if I enjoyed it. And here I am 27 years later. I bought Bryn and Richard out six months later and spent several years building up the trade, introducing live music and getting it known as a blues venue.

On Saturday nights we hired it out for private functions. You have to work hard to get people to just step in the door. These functions brought in new people, and so did the music nights. It just grew from there, and now the Platform is regarded as an iconic live music venue in Southampton: home of the blues.

We’ve been a rung on the ladder for a lot of bands who are now quite well known. Martin Harley, who’s currently on tour, played at The Platform and was recently at The Brook. We also gave Cornish band Willie and the Bandits a break – we were one of only two venues they used to play. Now they play all over. It’s good to know we’ve helped these musicians on their way.

I think it’s very important to give the arts a stepping stone. Small venues enhance musicians’ careers, get them out and get them seen. So many venues are closing: there is a fine line between profit, breaking even and running at a loss. People ask me how I can afford to have live music three or four times a week. I don’t charge on the door – I tried it but it didn’t work. People don’t want to pay to go into a pub.

We pay our bands £150 on a Friday and Saturday night and then we pass a jar round. People are happy to contribute and they often get an extra £150 in the jar, which helps make up their fee. It works very well.

I like to think we’ve been instrumental in bringing musicians together, too. We have a regular act on the first Friday of the month – Tim Payne and the Platform Posse. Every month Tim will have a different lead singer or guitarist. Then there’s drummer Mike Jessop, who gets various artists to join him. And there’s a blues jam night where anyone can get up and play.

I do think it’s possible to run a hospitality business that’s a pub, a music venue and a restaurant. The Platform is an old-fashioned pub, a proper pub. If you do good food you’ll get lots of people coming along. And live music a couple of times a week gets the venue known. You can mix all three but you have to make sure all the elements are good.

Over 27 years some staff have come and gone, as have the regulars, but customers do like The Platform. Often people come in and say they’ve walked past for 10 years and only just decided to come inside, and they wish they’d come in before. That happens nearly every week, so we must be doing something right.

We’re looking forward to welcoming some new bands in 2025 as well as our regular artists. Anyone interested in playing here should come in and see us or give us a call – we’re always looking for new talent.

We’ve also got lots of music over the Christmas and New Year period – check out our website, platformtavern.com, and our social media channels. And it’s still not too late to book your Christmas party with us.