The Stage

Mermaid campaign fights to save £6m compensation plan

Published Thursday 4 June 2009 at 16:05 by Lalayn Baluch

Industry campaigners have vowed to pressure the City of London Corporation to protect a £6 million compensation package for the arts, previously agreed in return for the demolition of the Mermaid Theatre.

A new planning application has been submitted to the local authority by developers Heatherfield Ltd, an arm of Blackfriars Investments Ltd. This proposes the bulldozing of the theatre to make way for a hotel, plus conference, banqueting and events facilities.

It is believed that the proposed development will cost £250 million.

The application follows a previous submission in 2000, when Blackfriars Investments Ltd revealed plans to demolish the building and replace it with offices, a fitness suite and retail space.

The original demolition plan was withdrawn after the developer was warned it would have to offset the loss of the Mermaid with a £6 million donation towards London theatres, under a so-called Section 106 planning clause.

Since then it has been run as a conference centre and was last year granted a change of use certificate, stripping the building of its theatrical status.

Council officials have said that they are yet to decide whether the £6 million clause will still apply in the case of the company’s new proposal, leading industry figures to vow that they will campaign to ensure that the funding package is included in the new application.

Speaking to The Stage, Theatres Trust director Mhora Samuel said: “The applicants need to be aware that there was previously an agreement that there would be a sum of money provided to and for the benefit of theatres in London, as a result of the demolition of the theatre, and that is what we will be working towards.

“It is a fact that the building they intend to demolish was built as a theatre and they are intending to demolish it regardless of the change of use. There are certainly plenty of opportunities for £6 million to be spent on improving and upgrading London’s theatres and it would be very sad if we weren’t to see some theatre benefit out of this new development.”

John Levitt, former chair of Save London’s Theatres Campaign, which from 1996 led a high-profile battle to save the venue, expressed disappointment that another venue would not be replacing the Mermaid and questioned whether the “ludicrous amount” of £6 million would make up for its loss.

He added: “I don’t believe any compensation will ever come. It has been a deeply frustrating business.”

Meanwhile, leading theatre producer and former Mermaid artistic director Marc Sinden said: “We need another hotel like a hole in the head. What we are desperately short of is the style, design and build of a theatre such as the Mermaid. Bernard Miles [who built the theatre] foresaw a ‘black box’ style of theatre that many contemporary theatres long for and go to great lengths to convert existing theatres into.

“When Bernard built the theatre, he sold the bricks for a guinea each and they were signed by various famous people at the time - Olivier and Vivien Leigh. There are a number of people still alive who bought bricks and I would publicly appeal to them to ask for their brick to be returned in good condition.”

A legal representative for Heatherfield Ltd confirmed that an application to build a hotel on the site had been submitted, but declined to comment further.

A spokesperson for the City of London Corporation revealed that the latest planning application did not include any mention of a £6 million clause and that it would be up to the council’s planning department to evaluate whether a Section 106 clause was necessary.

The Mermaid Theatre was built in 1959, thanks to a campaign by actor Miles. It was the first purpose-built theatre to be constructed in the area since the Jacobean period.