+1 on what 'last man to bat' said, for instance the going rate for doing a Peel session was £700 per member negotiated by the MU.
For the record I see you are Manchester based, and I know the 'Night and Day' cafe ran a similar thing for years i.e. they gave you 20 tickets and you sold them, the tickets you sold you kept the money. The Venue raked in the bar profit.
A real venue as said above is hired by a promotor who gives the band a guarantee and then a percentage cut of any profit, plus rider, food, accomodation etc.
But for bands starting out it is probably better to get your first gigs via collectives, it may be cool to play city gigs but not for these type of rackets, there will be no AR men there, there will be no local media, no influential magazine writers, producers, radio presenters etc. Unless you are doing a circuit i.e. Irish Band, Blues, Covers etc then you need to be playing shows were you know there will be industry presence. It is better to put a show on yourself and pay for everything at a loss making sure you promote it as a show case and get industry types there - producers etc than to play 100 of these pay to play gigs.
That's my two pence