Green light for new town centre concert hall
NEW VENUE WILL HAVE THE CAPACITY FOR 200 SEATED AND 400 STANDING FOR LIVE SHOWS
PLANNING permission has been granted for a new state of the art concert hall in the heart of Wexford town. Brian Byrne of Lantern Events has been given the green light for a venue with a capacity of 200 seated or 400 standing stretching back from the old Wesleyan Chapel on Rowe Street into what was most recently Byrne’s World of Wonder toy shop on Mallin Street.
Lantern recognised a gap in the market for a mid-sized venue in the heart of Wexford but any time-frame for the venue opening will now be completely dependent on Covid.
‘We’re delighted to have been given approval for the project and it’s really nice to have something to look forward to and to plan,’ said Brian. ‘We’re really excited to bring the old Wesleyan band-hall back to what was its original use.
Unfortunately, we’re probably looking at another eight or nine months closed before we can put on proper indoor gigs again. We’re a social business in anti-social times. But we feel that there is light at the end of the tunnel and when things come back, they’ll come back strong. When it’s safe to open, we’ll open. Hopefully we’ll get enough notice to have the new venue fully ready when the time comes.’
In the meantime, Brian is hopeful that Lantern will be able to stage some outdoor gigs in Wexford during the summer. Having successfully taken part in a pilot project from the Department of Arts & Culture staging a number of intimate gigs in Selskar Square pre-Christmas, Lantern are eagerly awaiting the announcement of how a €50m fund will be allocated to provide support within the live industry.
‘There are some great options in Wexford for outdoor gigs,’ said Brian. ‘You have Selskar Square, the Quay, Min Ryan Park, Redmond Park. All could host some really nice live shows. It’s just with social distancing etc, it can be hard to make these events financially viable. That’s where the government funding comes in. We’re hopeful that an announcement is imminent and that we’ll be able to start planning some kind of live shows for Wexford for before the end of the summer.
Hopefully then in the back end of the year, we can look towards opening the new venue. It’s all to play for still and we’re still in the game, which is the most important thing.’