George Akins is the Managing director of DHP Family, who run music venues and events both in Nottingham and around the UK. 

In Nottingham DHP Family venues include Rock City, Rescue Rooms, Stealth, The Bodega and most recently they acquired The Palais. Across the UK they also run the Thekla in Bristol and Oslo and The Garage in London. 

As well as the dozens of gigs they put on every week they are the company behind music festivals like Dot To Dot, Splendour and the upcoming Beat The Streets charity festival. To date Beat The Streets has raised around half a million pounds for Framework to help fight homelessness in Nottingham. 

However, these are just the tip of the iceberg and in this interview we talk at length about some of the festivals and venues from the past, as well as George’s favourite personal gigs and much much more. 

The interview was conducted by LeftLion Editor in Chief Jared Wilson in October 2024.