Music Venue

The Stables, Stockwell Lane, Wavendon, Milton Keynes MK17 8LU
Box office: 01908 280800
Book online: www.stables.org


Stars at The Stables
The Stables is a vibrant, exciting live music venue with an international profile, presenting over 300 concerts and 250 music education events per year. We have two performance spaces (the 400-seat Jim Marshall Auditorium and our intimate second space, the 120-capacity Stage 2). We are a favourite venue for many of the greatest musicians from the worlds of pop, rock, jazz, classical and roots music. Recent concert highlights have included Gabriella Cilmi, Beth Rowley, Joan Armatrading, Courtney Pine, Bill Wyman, Dave Brubeck, Nigel Kennedy, Norah Jones, Paul Carrack, Eric Bibb, Evelyn Glennie, Sandi Thom, Suzanne Vega, Cerys Matthews, Tori Amos, Kate Rusby, Tom Baxter and Nerina Pallot - the list goes on and on.

Plenty of high profile comedians have also graced The Stables' stage - Russell Brand, Alan Carr, Phil Jupitus, Bill Bailey, Sean Locke, Jeremy Hardy, Jenny Éclair, Victoria Wood, Marcus Brigstoke, Mark Thomas, Sue Perkins and Jack Dee to name a few. And with the likes of Michael MacIntyre, Jo Brand, Lenny Henry and Lee Evans appearing last season, if you like your comedy but you're not on our mailing list then you could be really missing out!

Over the past few years "Live From The Stables" (BBC Radio 2) has provided a platform for emerging talent such as Amy Winehouse, Jamie Cullum, Lemar, Jamelia, Jamie Scott and Clare Teal to perform with the Dankworth Big Band and on the same platform as established artists such as Curtis Stigers, Craig David, Beverley Knight, Marti Pellow, Alison Moyet and Chrissie Hynde.

Our relaxed and intimate second space, Stage 2 - opened in October 2007 - provides a friendly, informal space for emerging artists to hone their craft and build new audiences. It is home to our regular comedy night, Screaming Blue Murder, and to our monthly M1 Music Nights where we showcase new young musical talents from the local area. It also contains our new café bar, Café in2, which is open from 5.30pm on show nights offering a delicious range of snacks, light meals and desserts.

For a full rundown of upcoming events at The Stables please visit The Stables Website

How The Stables is funded
The Stables is home to the Wavendon Allmusic Plan Ltd (WAP), a registered charity, founded in 1969 to provide a centre of musical activity which would break down barriers between music genres and introduce music to as many people as possible, regardless of their age or social background. It is a not-for-profit organization, with any money we make being ploughed back into our music education and community projects.
People often express surprise that a music venue can be, or indeed needs to be, a registered charity, but most performing arts organisations with a similar seating capacity are either local authority owned and subsidised, or are charitable trusts. The Stables is totally independent of local authority ownership and currently receives no local authority revenue funding. The Stables does receive funding from Arts Council England, but the significant fundraising target calls for the continuous efforts of the Board, staff and volunteers.

The Stables has an annual turnover of around £1.3 million of which around 80% is earned income. The remainder, over £250,000, has to be raised each year from statutory bodies, charitable foundations, individuals and companies - just to break even.

To see the Wavendon Allmusic Plan Ltd annual report for 2006/2007 in pdf form, please visit The Stables Website

Hire The Stables
The Stables has a great reputation as one of the area's premier venues for a wide range of corporate and private uses. Our dedicated event team and highly experienced technical crew will ensure your event runs smoothly and with the highest of levels of service.

We regularly host business meetings, conferences, product launches, business lectures, fashion shows, award ceremonies, training days, dealer days and networking events. For large events and product launches The Stables can be completely transformed to include re-branding the indoor and outdoor spaces, marquees bolted onto the side of the building, removal of auditorium seating and additional lighting and video projection facilities. For full details please visit The Stables Website

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