Kingston's Banquet Records is seeking donations to help fund its buying of new sound equipment needed to host concerts at the new Circuit venue, which will be taking over the former PRYZM Kingston site.

The way these donations can be made is through a Voluntary Venue Levy when purchasing concert tickets through Banquet Records.

The levy allows ticket buyers to "pay a little bit extra on top of your gig ticket prices to go towards venue improvements", says Banquet Records' owner, Jon Tolley, but there is no obligation to do so.

Tolley added: "We realise that not everyone can give that extra, but any money that is received the levy is ring fenced towards sound and lighting improvements each, and every donation helps us get through our wish list that little bit quicker."

In a post on Instagram, Tolley said: "PRYZM is gone. We've had so many great gigs there over the years since 2018 – over 750 in total - and so many amazing shows, […] but that's all history and PRYZM is no more. Taking over the place is Circuit.

New nightclub chain, Circuit, is replacing PRYZM KIngston (Credit: Tilly O'Brien)

 "Circuit already exists in Bristol and Cardiff and will breathe new life into clubbing in Kingston town but what does it mean for us, for Banquet, and the gigs we put  on there?

"Well, there will be changes. It will be better, yes, there will be an improved service at the bar and you'll be able to pick up food from the adjoining Bonnie Rogues, but the main improvements for you, the music fan, are around sound and vision.

"On the vision, there will be significantly improved sightlines right across the room but to get to those new viewing areas we need to buy new speakers and new amps so that you can hear how it should sound.

 "The absolute main part of the investment is coming from Circuit literally spending millions on the sight lines, but Banquet too has got to invest a significant amount of money, we're spending over 100 grand on our new PA equipment."

Tolley added that the store has a huge line up of artists performing gigs at the new venue in September, including Tom Grennan, Sophie Ellis Bexter, Bryan Adams, Pendulum, and Lola Young.

He also said that he has lots more artists in the pipeline for future shows and advises locals to signup to Banquet Records' mailing list to receive gig announcements.

PRYZM Kingston officially closed its doors on 12 July and new nightclub, Circuit, is set to open this summer.