The Stage

Southend venues saved by high profile partnership

Published Tuesday 21 February 2006 at 11:45 by Nuala Calvi

Southend’s Palace Theatre has been saved from permanent closure, after a private company was found to take over management of the venue and the nearby Cliffs Pavilion.

The Palace has been closed since last October due to lack of funds, but will reopen under the management of HQ Theatres, a company set up by Qdos Entertainment and Hetherington Seelig Theatres.

Leader of Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Anna Waite said: “This proposal from HQ Theatres offers us the potential to re-open the Palace Theatre, which is excellent news. A great deal of discussion still needs to take place and some key and very important issues still have to be resolved prior to the awarding of the contract. I am pleased that everything is now moving forward, and while I don’t want to get people’s hopes up I sincerely hope there will be a satisfactory outcome for everyone.”

Both the Palace and the Cliffs Pavilion are owned by the council. HQ will be appointed to jointly manage the two venues, subject to final approval by the local authority in the summer. The operator will be expected to complete a refurbishment of the theatre that began in the nineties but ran out of money. It also plans to make extra provision for education and outreach work and appoint a dedicated manager for the Palace.

HQ operations director Michael Ockwell commented: “We see this opportunity very much as a strategic partnership where we will engage with the council and ensure that the Cliffs Pavilion and especially the Palace Theatre have a new lease of life.”

Meanwhile, the Spa Pavilion Theatre in Felixstowe is also set to change hands, after manager Live Nation decided not to bid for the ten-year lease when it came up for renewal.

Suffolk councillors gave the go-ahead for Openwide International, which runs the Pavilion Pier in Cromer, to take over the venue. Current employees at the Spa Pavilion will be retained on the same terms and conditions.

Openwide is expected to develop the venue’s potential as a place to meet and eat, having boosted catering opportunities at the Pavilion. It plans to offer drama, children’s shows, orchestral music, dance, comedy, light entertainment and a summer season aimed at attracting visitors to the town, as well as hosting amateur performances.

Rae Leighton, cabinet member for theatre and the arts at Suffolk Council, said: “We will be backing them with an annual subsidy of around £200,000 so that they can provide entertaining and wide-ranging shows that will attract all parts of our community.

“The council has also agreed a profit-sharing arrangement whereby its annual payment to the company will be off-set if it does really well in future years.”