A beloved Frome music venue will be able to expand if sufficient grant funding is secured.

The Cheese and Grain, on Justice Lane, has been a fixture of Frome's cultural scene for many years, hosting everything from a Foo Fighters concert before the Glastonbury Festival to general election hustings.

The government is expected to announce in the spring the result of a £5m funding bid which would see the venue enhanced along with three others in the former Mendip area.

Frome Town Council is now expected to throw its support behind the expansion plans – though it will not be committing any money to the project at this stage.

The full council will meet at Frome Town Hall on Wednesday (January 15) to discuss extending the Cheese and Grain's sub-lease on the building, which would make it more likely that they could secure funding to expand their premises.

Peter Wheelhouse, the town council's economic development and regeneration manager and deputy town clerk, said in his written report: "Councillors will be aware that the Cheese and Grain have an aspiration to develop an extension to their building, between that building and the Canoe Club.

"The Cheese and Grain building and most of the land needed for the extension are leased by Somerset Council to the town council, with a sub-lease to the Cheese and Grain.

"Our lease runs until 2096, and the Cheese and Grain's sub-lease expires in 2040.

"This leaves only 15 years on the sub-lease, which is likely to present a risk to the Cheese and Grain when they try to secure external funding for this project given that many funders would require a minimum of 25 years on any lease or sub-lease held by an applicant.

"Extending the term of the Cheese and Grain's sub-lease would remove this risk.

"A minor adjustment to the boundary of the leased area and planning consent are also required to enable the project to proceed."

The venue's existing recording studio is used by "internationally famous artists", in a manner which restricts the ability of local artists to book the equipment.

To rectify this, the venue wishes to establish a new centre (referred to as 'Event Tec') which will make more affordable 'dry hire' spaces available (i.e. those that can be used without a house engineer or producer).

Hand in hand with this improvement will come new vocational training for local people in a range of music industry skills, including sound engineering and stage lighting, logistics, hospitality, digital security and marketing.

The venue's overall logistics will also be improved, with the installation of a lift large enough for a grand piece, new storage facilities and a third wheelchair-accessible toilet and washroom.

Mr Wheelhouse added: "The project will have significant benefits for the community, including a scaling up of accredited vocational training, creating local apprenticeship opportunities, new links between the Cheese and Grain and colleges, universities and employers and generating business for other local businesses.

"Investment in the new building would improve the appearance of the area around the Cheese and Grain and support the cultural development of this part of the town centre."

The Cheese and Grain lies at the northern end of Frome town centre, within walking distance of the Saxonvale site – with Somerset Council's executive committee meeting in Frome on January 23 to decide whether Mayday Saxonvale's planned regeneration scheme will go ahead.

The venue also lies on National Cycle Network route 24, with the Frome's Missing Links campaign group working hard to connect the town with the surrounding villages via the route – making it easier for people living near Frome to access the venue's cultural offer.

The expansion project is expected to cost in the region of £1.6m to deliver, with the Cheese and Grain seeking to secure the funding from external grants rather than from Somerset Council, Frome Town Council or the neighbouring parish councils.

The site was one of four cultural venues within the former Mendip area which were included within a £5m bid to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government in late-2024 – with the government expected to announce the outcome of the bid in the spring.

If successful, the venue will share the funding with fellow Frome venue The Lucky Chance, the Somerset Rural Life Museum in Glastonbury and the Amulet theatre in Shepton Mallet.

Mr Wheelhouse said the project stood a greater chance of securing funding (regardless of the bid's outcome) if it had the full support of both Somerset Council and the town council.

He said: "Somerset Council has already indicated their support for the project and we are working closely with their officers to try to secure central government funding.

"Somerset Council have also indicated their in-principle support for the extension of the sub-lease term and the necessary (marginal) adjustment to the boundary of the leased area."

The full council is expected to confirm its support for the project, approving the extension of the sub-lease to 2055 and work with Somerset Council and the Cheese and Grain ahead of a formal planning application being submitted.

The full council meeting will be held at Frome Town Hall on Wednesday (January 15) from 7pm. The meeting will be broadcast via Zoom for those unable to attend in person.