The Sound Lounge is a

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

live music venue on

Sutton High Street Sutton High Street is a high street running north–south through the town of Sutton in the London Borough of Sutton. The High Street area constitutes the sixth most important retail centre in London, and is home to many restaurants and major r ...

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

. The venue hosts live performances including blues,

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

, folk and roots music. It incorporates a plant-based,

carbon-neutral Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the "p ...

café and a

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...

shop, and, in addition to music, also hosts visual art exhibitions, theatre and dance.

Locations, past and present

The venue's previous locations were first

Merton Abbey Mills __NOTOC__ Merton Abbey Mills is a former textile factory in the parish of Merton in London, England near the site of the medieval Merton Priory, now the home of a variety of businesses, mostly retailers. The River Wandle flowing north towards W ...

, then

Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth and partly in the London Borough of Merton. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre- Saxon times ...

, then

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

and then

Morden Morden is a district and town in south London, England, within the London Borough of Merton, in the ceremonial county of Greater London. It adjoins Merton Park and Wimbledon to the north, Mitcham to the east, Sutton to the south and Worcester Pa ...

before occupying the former premises of Sutton's

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) and Ulster Bank ...

on Sutton High Street.

Activities

Following the easing of lockdown, the Sutton and Morden venues had a limited opening in April 2021 for outdoor food and drink consumption and, at the Sutton venue,

sales at the Union Music Store within. A women's theatre event took place in June 2021, and Sunday jazz afternoons with vegan roast are planned. In addition to its normal meal sales, the venue works in conjunction with Time Out Youth Project at the

Sutton Life Centre The Sutton Life Centre is a community centre in Sutton, London, Sutton, South London. It is an £8 million facility that uses audiovisual equipment to make young people more "street smart" and better able to deal with the dangers and risks they ...

to provide free meals for young people with

food insecurity Food security speaks to the availability of food in a country (or geography) and the ability of individuals within that country (geography) to access, afford, and source adequate foodstuffs. According to the United Nations' Committee on World F ...

. Additional initiatives include the installation of a

community garden A community garden is a piece of land gardened or cultivated by a group of people individually or collectively. Normally in community gardens, the land is divided into individual plots. Each individual gardener is responsible for their own plo ...

, free hot drinks for local residents suffering from

social isolation Social isolation is a state of complete or near-complete lack of contact between an individual and society. It differs from loneliness, which reflects temporary and involuntary lack of contact with other humans in the world. Social isolation c ...

, and activities for pre-school children. The venue also provide training for disadvantaged people aiming to become

baristas A barista (; ; from the Italian/Spanish for "bartender") is a person, usually a coffeehouse employee, who prepares and serves espresso-based coffee drinks. Etymology and inflection The word ''barista'' comes from Italian where it means a male o ...

and sound engineers.

Carbon neutrality certification

On 1 July 2021 the venue became the country's first grassroots music venue to be certified as

carbon neutral Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the "p ...

by the CarbonNeutral company. A wide variety of measures have been put in place to achieve neutrality. In addition to the fully plant-based menu for the café, the venue also obtains all of its energy from

renewable source Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

s, sends no waste to landfill and maintains an

allotment garden An allotment (British English), or in North America, a community garden, is a plot of land made available for individual, non-commercial gardening or growing food plants, so forming a kitchen garden away from the residence of the user. Such plot ...

on site for zero-carbon produce for the café.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sound Lounge, London, The Music venues in London Morden Sutton, London Tourist attractions in the London Borough of Sutton Shops in London Vegan restaurants