Council remains tight-lipped on reopening of Guildhall Theatre
IT HAS BEEN CLOSED FOR ALMOST THREE YEARS
AFTER being closed for almost three years, it is unclear how much closer Derby’s Guildhall Theatre is to opening its doors again.
The Derby Telegraph asked for a progress report on the situation, but Derby City Council officers are remaining tight-lipped about what is happening to the Grade II-listed 19th Century building.
It closed in January 2019 after part of the ornate ceiling decoration fell into the auditorium during an inspection.
And despite £1.5 million being set aside for repairs, it was soon confirmed that they would cost substantially more than this.
Dozens of shows were cancelled, theatre groups were forced to cancel their shows or to find alternative venues and Derby Live had to refund advance bookings at the 244-seat venue.
Since then, possible dates were put forward for when the building could reopen following repairs but these have all passed.
The first was scheduled for the end of September 2019, but instead
of reopening, it was revealed by the council that it had “decided to take this opportunity to undertake a holistic review of the building to determine what is required to ensure the Guildhall Theatre’s long-term future”.
Money once again had to be refunded because customers had been encouraged to book for the Christmas Show scheduled for December 2019.
In January 2020, a statement from the city council confirmed that problems were more widespread than initially thought and it could be several months before the full scale of the problems were understood and a programme of work could be drawn up to address them.
At that point, there was every sign that the theatre could remain closed well into 2021 and then the coronavirus pandemic resulted in halting many city projects, although it is unclear if this affected the Guildhall repairs to any greater or lesser extent.
So as September 2021 approaches and a third winter season looks to be lost, several Derby Telegraph readers have been asking what is happening with the Guildhall Theatre repairs.
This question was put to the council and the response was: “There’s no update yet, but as soon as have news to share we will.
“We will hopefully have more to say in the next couple of months, but not at the moment.”
Work on the roof was first identified as being necessary in 2017 and it soon became apparent that work was also needed on the auditorium ceiling.
In the meantime, work has been continuing on multimillion-pound repairs to Derby’s nearby Victorian Market Hall, which is currently also closed to allow work to continue. Also in the Market Place, the Assembly Rooms is in its eighth year of closure following a fire in the plant room on top of the adjacent car park.
The 1970s Brutalist-style building has controversially been given the go-ahead for demolition in the next five years as the city council comes up with ideas for something to replace it in the Market Place.
It cannot be demolished until an alternative scheme has planning approval.
We will hopefully have more to say in the next couple of months, but not at the moment. City council spokesperson