The Stage

Debt payment row threatens Bognor’s Alexandra Theatre

Published Friday 26 November 2004 at 10:40 by Jeremy Austin

Haines Watts, the firm that was administrator for the troubled Alexandra Theatre, Bognor Regis, has issued a non-compliance order against the trust that operates the venue, which could lead to that organisation being wound up.

The theatre’s managing director Mark Edwards admits that he has stopped making monthly payments on behalf of Arun Arts Trust to the administrator because he does not believe a realistic repayment target has been set. He also offered to take out a loan in order to pay the remainder but claims that when he asked for a list of creditors from Haines Watts, he was told one had not yet been compiled. No court date has yet been set.

“They said we have got a surplus of £2,500 a month, which is basically cobblers,” said Edwards, claiming that performers’ fees were erroneously listed in that agreement at being at £100 a week in total.

“I asked why they then wanted £4,500 a month from us. They said that was what they wanted. I asked where the extra money was coming from and they said that wasn’t their problem.”

A disastrous 18-month period at the beginning of the decade ended with the venue finding itself £200,000 in debt while Jim Cozens, the man previously dubbed the theatre’s saviour, was declared bankrupt after the Musicians’ Union took him to court over the non-payment of £7,000 for a Glenn Miller Orchestra concert at the venue.

Following that, in September 2002, the venue emerged from three months in administration with a new management team and pledges of cash from both Bognor Town Council and Arun District Council.

Although the district council still owes £16,000 in funding, Edwards has said that unless it can provide a figure nearer the £140,000 annually he believes is needed to keep the venue operational, it may as well keep the £8,000 a year being offered.

“We have survived here by our wits and if it wasn’t for the last administration we would be all right now. We would be in front. We have paid £40,000 of the debt in two years and for an underfunded 340-seat venue I don’t think that’s bad going. We have put two years of hard work here - nobody is getting paid,” he said.

While Arun District Council’s head of investment and tourism Richard McMann could not comment on the issuing of the non-compliance order, he revealed that theatre consultant Stephen Hetherington has been brought in as part of an entertainment provision study being carried out by P & P Consultants.

Two council-owned sites, including the one on which the theatre stands, are being considered for redevelopment and, as part of this, entertainment provision in the town is being examined.

One of the options is to turn the Alexandra site, which is currently leased by Whitbread and sub-let to the trust, into a Travel Lodge with facilities for entertainment.