Haymarket Theatre in liquidation

LEICESTER’S Haymarket has gone into liquidation.

As actors and theatre managers across the UK warned it would be virtually impossible to reopen venues while meeting social distance guidelines, the directors at the Leicester theatre decided to hand the lease back to the city council.

The council invested about £3 million installing new seats and fittings in the 1970s theatre three years ago, after it had been stripped out and mothballed in 2007.

Haymarket Consortium was set up to run the venue, which reopened for live music, shows, conferences and corporate events in 2018.

Performances due to take place prior to the lockdown had included In The Night Garden Live, Bee Gees Fever, The Music of the Moody Blues and Leicester Amateur Operatic Society’s rock musical, Rent.

People who had tickets are being advised to contact their credit card company in the first instance, if they used one for the purchase.

A statement by Leicester insolvency practitioners CBA Business Solutions said: “It is with great sadness that the board of directors of Leicester Haymarket Theatre Ltd have to declare the company insolvent and have started the process of handing the theatre back to the city council.”

A spokesman for the theatre company said: “It is hugely disappointing that the Covid crisis has emerged at a point when we were still under great financial pressures.

“Despite hoping to enter our first profitable year, the financial outlook is bleak.

“Having not had the time to build the significant reserves required, we are unable to continue.

“We have discussed the possibility of rescue packages with a number of organisations but these have all, understandably, proved unworkable.

“Although this is a disappointing end to a great venture, much has been achieved over the past few years that Leicester can be proud of.”

Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: “This is a bitterly disappointing end to what was a brave and exciting venture and I pay enormous credit to the Haymarket Consortium for all they gave to Leicester audiences.

“I remain confident there is still a place for a vibrant Haymarket that will add to the city’s cultural offer.”

Ticket holders who cannot get refunds from credit card companies can contact Neil Money, of CBA Business Solutions, in New Walk, Leicester, by e-mailing:

customerservice@l-ht.co.uk

Theatre