https://padlet.com/benedictmfaux/utmxaet3lek9dknl en-us 2022-10-30 22:16:26 UTC 2025-10-08 15:16:05 UTC hello@padlet.com benedictmfaux https://padlet.com/benedictmfaux/utmxaet3lek9dknl/wish/2362380625 'The Forum' exists as the centre of music in Tunbridge Wells, as a relatively small town it is an essential component in the rise of small bands and has facilitated a punk scene to grow in the small town, due to its support of local punk bands that have breached into the wider music industry and toured internationally. This is most notable in the band 'Slaves' career who made their start at The Forum and began a long lineage of punk music in the town. 
Combined with this, 'The Forum' contains a recording studio behind the stage and a wide array of recording equipment that is incremental in helping smaller bands get their start in producing and recording music for release. 
The venue functions as a centre of the local community, hosting events across the town - notably in 'Calverly Park' during the summer for the 'Local and Live' festival and at the yearly ice rink, where they contact many local musicians to provide them with 'gigs' and opportunities to increase their reach, make more money and gain experience. ]]> 2022-10-30 22:23:26 UTC https://padlet.com/benedictmfaux/utmxaet3lek9dknl/wish/2362380625 benedictmfaux https://padlet.com/benedictmfaux/utmxaet3lek9dknl/wish/2362382501 As previously mentioned, 'Calverly Park' works with 'The Forum' to facilitate the development of young musicians by allowing the space to be used for a town-wide festival in the summer. In this festival, bands can contact the venue to arrange to play shows to a wider audience and on a large stage within the park, and in 'The Forum' itself. 

The park is placed entirely in the centre of the town which allows any musical event there to be easy to access and widely heard from the train station across the road where many potential viewers could be intrigued by, upon their arrival to the town. ]]> 2022-10-30 22:28:25 UTC https://padlet.com/benedictmfaux/utmxaet3lek9dknl/wish/2362382501 benedictmfaux https://padlet.com/benedictmfaux/utmxaet3lek9dknl/wish/2362387891 The Sussex Arms is another significant venue within the town, especially for its support of more fringe styles of music and performance. 
The music venue itself is situated underneath a bar and restaurant, and is called 'The Forum Basement' due to its connection to 'The Forum' which is a short walk from the venue. The venue is incredibly small with no stage and the capacity for only 50 audience members at a time, this allows the bands that play there to utilise the small space for a specifically intimate performance with the crowd. This has been really essential to some bands building their first close fanbases during their beginnings. 

It's important to note also, that the venue is strictly 18+ (unlike its sister venue 'The Forum' which allows 16 year olds and over).
This often results in more experimental and adult music being played there, specifically within the local punk scene where some artists' music contains much more mature themes and more experimental performances. ]]> 2022-10-30 22:41:27 UTC https://padlet.com/benedictmfaux/utmxaet3lek9dknl/wish/2362387891