The Stage

Four sites join theatre ‘at risk’ list

Published Wednesday 24 June 2009 at 14:45 by Lalayn Baluch

Blackpool’s Winter Gardens complex and the Brighton Hippodrome are among four new entries listed on a register of the top ten most endangered theatre buildings in the country.

A total of 82 venues are featured in conservation body the Theatres Trust’s 2009 Theatre Buildings at Risk Register. Thirty-nine of these are located in England and deemed to be at “high risk”.

Blackpool’s Winter Gardens has been added to the list, following reports of its “possible demolition and poor state of overall repair”, while the future of the Brighton Hippodrome is under threat because of the large amount of money that would be needed to reopen it.

The Doncaster Grand and Hyde’s Theatre Royal have also rejoined the register, after being downgraded from the top ten last year, as a result of efforts by local groups fighting to rescue them. The four new entries join the likes of the Derby Hippodrome, Stockton-on-Tees’ Globe Theatre and the Plymouth Palace.

According to the trust, the register aims to highlight not only venues that have been “abandoned and those suffering neglect at the hands of their owners”, but also efforts of campaign groups around the country.

Theatres Trust director Mhora Samuel said: “It’s important to remember that, unlike English Heritage, Historic Scotland and Cadw, whose at risk registers solely focus on listed and historic buildings, the Theatres Trust’s TBAR Register covers all theatres.

“We recognise a theatre’s value includes its availability for use by a local community and being a good building to put on theatre, as well as the quality of its architecture. That’s why our risk criteria are broader.”

The new additions replace Wilton’s Music Hall in London, which is in negotiations with the National Trust regarding a purchase of the freehold and a potential grant from English Heritage for repairs, and Brighton’s Gardner Arts Centre, which is set to undergo a refurbishment by Sussex University and is scheduled to reopen by 2012.

The Bradford Odeon and the Farnham Redgrave, classified by the register as “lost” after planning permission was granted for its demolition, have also been removed from the top ten.

Theatres Trust’s top historic theatre buildings at risk (*On the English Heritage Buildings at Risk Register)

England, top ten:

- Winter Gardens complex, Blackpool*

- Swindon Mechanics Institute*

- Plymouth Palace*

- Brighton Hippodrome*

- Derby Hippodrome

- Burnley Empire

- Doncaster Grand

- Hulme Hippodrome and Playhouse, Manchester

- Globe Theatre, Stockton-on-Tees

- Theatre Royal, Hyde

Scotland:

- Tivoli Theatre, Aberdeen

- Odeon/New Victoria, Edinburgh

- Gateway Theatre, Edinburgh

Wales:

- Patti Theatre, Craig-y-Nos

- Gwyn Hall, Neath

- Palace Theatre, Swansea

- Theatr Gwynedd, Bangor