Government defends Guild Hall response

The government has rejected criticism of its response to calls for support to secure the future of Preston’s Guild Hall.

As the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) revealed earlier this week, the boss of Preston’s Business Improvement District (BID) said the formal lobbying effort by partners across the city had so far been met with “less than encouraging” replies.

BID managing director Mark Whittle denounced the fact that requests for engagement over how to save or replace the mothballed venue – which have included letters from the MPs for Preston and Ribble Valley to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy – have been redirected towards the Arts Council.

A 3,300-signature petition organised by the news site Blog Preston has been met with an identikit response, the LDRS understands.

However, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has now defended that approach.

A spokesperson told the LDRS: “Arts Council England is the public body responsible for arts venues and it is absolutely right that they are the first point of contact when seeking support.

“We are committed to supporting cultural venues and we are ensuring that theatres are able to thrive across the country through our £425m Creative Foundations Fund, which will support approximately 300 capital projects in arts venues [nationwide], as part of the £1.5bn Arts Everywhere Fund.

“This is in addition to a five percent uplift this financial year for National Portfolio Organisations, which will help deliver high quality arts and cultural activity in every region of the country.”

Speaking separately last month, Jen Cleary, director for the North West at Arts Council England said: “Arts and culture are fundamental to thriving towns and we welcome the work Preston City Council is doing to explore the future of the Guild Hall and its cultural offer.

“As the national development agency for creativity and culture, we’ll continue to partner with the council to offer our support and advice on funding streams and strategic development, as they complete their feasibility work.”

The exchanges over the government’s stance on the Guild Hall came during a week which has seen the Preston City Council-owned venue placed on the national ‘Theatres at Risk Register’ for the first time.

The iconic attraction had been due to reopen in 2023 – after a four-year closure caused by a legal dispute – but was ultimately forced to keep the doors of its main Grand Hall and Charter Theatre spaces closed after the material dubbed ‘crumbling concrete’ was found to have been used in the roof.

City council leader Matthew Brown said the building’s inclusion on the list of under-threat theatres served to highlight “the potential for revival with the right levels of support” and also “raises the awareness of the Guild Hall’s current plight at a national level”.

The authority resolved in March to spend the next 12 months assessing whether the refurbishment or replacement of the venue was the most feasible – and sensible – option. The latter would come with an estimated price tag of between £60m and £100m -far beyond the capacity of the city council and whatever larger authority replaces it in2028 as part of a government shake-up.

At a LDRS local election debate in April, Cllr Brown said his personal preference was for a new, purpose-built venue.

The Theatres Trust, which compiles the risk register each year, has indicated it would prefer to see the existing 53-year-old Guild Hall restored, with a suitable new-build being the next best option to ensure Preston retains a major cultural hub.

Cabinet member for resources Martyn Rawlinson has previously told the LDRS that a new venue would not necessarily have to be constructed on the current Guild Hall site, opposite the town hall, if another suitable plot emerged. But he acknowledged that looking elsewhere in the city might make such a scheme even more expensive, as the city council would be unlikely to own the land.

Mark Whittle said of the venue’s appearance on the Theatres at Risk Register: “All eyes need to be on Preston, the county’s administrative capital, to help us, as a city, find a workable, safe and futureproof solution, for a large-scale leisure, entertainment and conference facility in the city, in the very near future.”

The 350-seater Guild Lounge mini-venue launched in late 2024 in the foyer part of the building, which is not affected by the unsafe concrete.