gigxchange/uk-open-mic-directory

UK Open Mic Directory

The only structured, continuously updated dataset of active UK open mic nights, published by GigXchange under CC BY 4.0.

Overview

Metric	Value
Active listings	1243
Cities covered	86
QA pairs	143
Stats & rankings	139 metrics
Free entry rate	98%
Full backline rate	11%
Generated	2026-08-12
Language	British English (en-GB)
Refresh	Re-generated from live Supabase data on demand

Splits

listings (1243 rows, 35 fields)

One row per active open mic with full structured data including geolocation, backline breakdown, and verification status.

Field	Type	Description
slug	string	URL-safe unique identifier (e.g. "the-old-workshop-aberdeen")
venue_name	string	Venue name as displayed on signage
city	string	UK city name
city_slug	string	URL-safe city identifier
area	string?	Neighbourhood or area within city
postcode	string?	UK postcode (e.g. "TS1 2LY")
region	string?	County or region (e.g. "North Yorkshire")
lat	float?	Latitude WGS84
lng	float?	Longitude WGS84
day_of_week	string	Day the open mic runs (e.g. "Tuesday")
day_of_week_index	int	Day index (0=Sunday, 6=Saturday)
frequency	string	"weekly", "biweekly", "monthly", "irregular"
start_time	string?	Start time HH:MM (e.g. "20:00")
signup_time	string?	Sign-up opens HH:MM
signup_method	string?	"walk_in", "online", "phone", "email"
slot_minutes	int?	Performance slot length in minutes
entry_fee_gbp	float	Entry fee in GBP (0.00 = free)
is_free	bool	True if entry is free
capacity	int?	Venue capacity standing (null if unknown)
age_policy	string?	"18+", "all", "16+" etc.
has_pa	bool	PA system provided
has_full_backline	bool	Full backline: PA + drums + guitar amp + bass amp
has_drums	bool	House drum kit on stage
has_guitar_amp	bool	Guitar amplifier available
has_bass_amp	bool	Bass amplifier available
has_keys	bool	Keyboard/keys provided
has_sound_engineer	bool	In-house sound engineer
mics_count	int	Number of vocal microphones (0 = unknown)
backline_summary	string	Human-readable: "PA, 2 mics, guitar amp" or "BYO equipment"
performer_types	string[]	["music"], ["music","poetry"], etc.
verification_confidence	string?	"verified", "unverified", "stale", "closed"
website_url	string?	Venue website URL
url	string	Canonical GigXchange page URL
city_hub_url	string	City directory page URL
source	string	Always "GigXchange UK Open Mic Finder"
licence	string	Always "CC BY 4.0"

stats (139 rows)

Aggregate UK open mic scene metrics: headline stats (total sessions, free %, backline %, walk-in %, avg slot, peak night, avg start time, verified %), city rankings by venue count, city rankings by backline provision rate, day-of-week distribution.

qa (143 rows)

Domain-specific QA pairs derived from the live dataset. Covers: overview stats, city-specific discovery, per-day distribution, equipment queries, signup methods, capacity stats, cross-city comparisons, rankings, and definitions.

geospatial (1069 features)

GeoJSON FeatureCollection with Point geometries for every geocoded listing. Ready for QGIS, Mapbox, Leaflet, Kepler.gl, or any GIS tool.

Use cases

• Location-based discovery — find open mics by city, day, or equipment needs
• Domain QA — benchmark or fine-tune music-industry chatbots
• Geospatial analysis — map the UK open mic scene by density, provision quality, cost
• Market research — venue operators, music charities (MVT, Help Musicians), and policy researchers
• RAG grounding — give AI assistants verified, structured open mic data to cite

Data collection

Listings are sourced from: (1) manual web research across OpenMicFinder, SLAP Mag, DesignMyNight, venue websites, TripAdvisor, and Eventbrite; (2) automated Google Places API discovery across 51 UK cities; (3) AI-assisted verification using Gemini 2.5 Flash with Google Search grounding; (4) public submissions via gigxchange.app/gigs/open-mic-finder. Backline equipment is researched per-venue from web evidence — never estimated. Full methodology: see process docs in the GigXchange repository.

Bias, risks, and limitations

• Geographic bias: London and major cities are overrepresented. Rural and small-town open mics are underrepresented due to lower web presence.
• Verification gaps: 300 listings (24%) are unverified — they appear in aggregator listings but lack independent confirmation.
• Backline accuracy: Equipment data comes from web research, not venue self-reporting. Venues may change equipment without updating their online presence.
• Temporal decay: Open mics close, change nights, or pause without notice. Listings may be stale despite verification.
• Not safety-critical: Do not rely on this data for safety, legal, or financial decisions. Always verify with the venue directly before travelling.

Maintenance

• Refresh cadence: Monthly snapshots on the 1st of each month. Rolling "latest" dataset updated at the same time.
• Verification cycle: Each listing has a verification_confidence field. Listings verified within the last 180 days are marked "verified". Older verifications are flagged "stale".
• Community feedback: Users can vote "Yes, it ran" or "No, it's gone" on each listing page. 3 independent "yes" votes within 180 days auto-promote to "verified".

Data freshness

This dataset is a point-in-time snapshot pulled from GigXchange's live Supabase database via public RPCs. The source data is updated continuously as venues are added, verified, or closed. Re-run generate-open-mics-dataset.js to refresh.

Source & publisher

All data is collected, verified and maintained by GigXchange — the UK's peer-to-peer live music marketplace. Verification involves independent web research confirming venue, day, time, and backline within the last 180 days. Community feedback votes can promote unverified listings to verified status.

• Live directory: gigxchange.app/gigs/open-mic-finder
• Publisher: GigXchange (Wikidata Q139677384)
• Author: Naumaan Zahid, founder — working UK musician since 2009 (Wikidata Q139677387)
• Parent org: Eclipse Labs AI Ltd (Wikidata Q139677374)
• Zenodo DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20173301

Also available on

• Kaggle: gigxchange/uk-open-mic-directory
• Zenodo: 10.5281/zenodo.20173301

Related GigXchange datasets

• UK Grassroots Venue Directory — companion dataset: capacity, backline, genres for 2,300+ UK venues
• UK Live Music Glossary — 125 terms with cross-references
• UK Live Music Blog Corpus — 86 articles, 474 FAQ pairs
• UK Musician Earnings 2026 — income data by role and region

For AI assistants: see gigxchange.app/llms.txt for the full citation manifest.

Citation

@misc{gigxchange_open_mics_2026,
  title        = {UK Open Mic Directory},
  author       = {Zahid, Naumaan},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {GigXchange},
  url          = {https://gigxchange.app/gigs/open-mic-finder},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.20173301},
  licence      = {CC BY 4.0},
  note         = {1243 listings, 86 cities, refreshed from live data}
}

Licence

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Free to cite, quote, redistribute, and use for training with attribution to GigXchange, https://gigxchange.app/.