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Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize prize money to the trust for venues, which works to protect the Britain's grassroots concert spaces.

The star was presented with the cheque on mid-October as his new release People Watching was named the top album of the previous year.

Fender has opted to give the cash to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the crucial part grassroots venues played in his beginning days.

"I would not have achieved my current career if it weren't for all the performances I performed around the North East, and further afield, when I was starting out," said Sam Fender. "These venues are legendary, but they are in difficulty."

Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these spaces have shut down – about one-sixth of the total UK scene.

Recently, major artists including Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the Music Venues Trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by including a small levy to their admission fees, which supports independent venues.

Sam Fender also participated, generating over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to help numerous local spots across Britain.

The donation supported locations that were confronting possible closure due to challenges caused by water damage, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and noise complaints.

Some locations obtained funding support in upgrading facilities and sound and lighting systems that helped musicians and fans.

"The idea that revenue from shows in major spaces supports the local stages, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just logical," the star has said.

The musician is far from the only musician to contribute his award prize money to worthy causes.

When Pulp won the trophy in the year 1996 for their release their work, frontman Cocker stated that the group would give their prize money to the charity War Child.

In 2002, artist Ms Dynamite split her prize between several charities, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"I also gave a £1,000 to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked updated gear," Ms Dynamite told the media.

Previously, the band contributed their winnings to the youth organization that supported their group, alongside other grassroots music organisations.

Also 1994 winners they donated their winnings to a charity for MS after a close contact was diagnosed the illness.

"The victory was quite enough," remarked singer the singer. "The money was the cherry on top but we could do without the extra, because we had the honor. So our winning impacted somebody else's life."

In the past week, the MVT revealed it had saved several grassroots venues in that region, by transferring them to community ownership.

One venue in the city and the second in Bristol were purchased under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is funded by the arts council and supporters who acquire "shares" in the venues.