For many residents of Guildford, the Electric Theatre holds a special place in their hearts. That is part of the reason why there was such a sense of fear from many when it emerged that the venue was having to cancel shows in the wake of losses of more than a quarter of a million pounds in the financial year 2023-2024.
The town centre venue’s future was under strong consideration in the aftermath of the losses having been revealed, resulting in the lease of the venue being handed back to Guildford Borough Council in August of this year. Now a further update on the situation has been released.
What Had Gone On
Losses of in excess of £250,000 were posted for the previous financial year, which meant the owners of the theatre had to consider whether or not it made sense for them to keep it open in the long term. It had been being run by the Academy of Contemporary Music, which made reference to both the ‘current financial crisis’ and the ‘pressure that the education sector is experiencing’ when confirming that events were having to be cancelled for the April of this year. Both the safety of operating shows on a restricted budget as well as the overall viability of the theatre were having to be considered.
In the immediate term, the involved began to explore the possibility of the theatre’s ownership being transferred, with ACM having taken on the lease of the venue in 2017 in order to allow the Council to save just shy of £7 million over the four years of the lease. There was also a conversation around whether the Emmaus Road Church would take on the lease, having previously been involved in the conversation to run the venue as a ‘community hub’ a year before the Academy of Contemporary Music actually took on the lease. The theatre’s future was all that mattered to many in Guildford.
Why It’s Back in the News
The Electric Theatre has been going through a period of ‘hard terms and financial trouble’ over the past few months, leaving many residents of Guildford to wonder what on earth was going on. Obviously, the Academy of Contemporary Music had no intention of losing as much as a quarter of a million pounds a year running the venue, which is why the lease for the theatre was handed back to Guildford Borough Council. That means that the theatre has become the property of the Council once again, just as it was in the years leading up to the ACM taking over the lease in 2017.
Since the point in August that the lease was returned to the Council, there have been constructive conversations with both residents and local organisations in order to get some sense of how it could be used moving forward. There has been interest shown in using the venue from numerous different groups, with the overall desire being to see it used for a number of different community-based activities. There is a hope from the Council that a wider response from the community in Guildford can present options for the theatre’s future over the long term.
Council Has Provided an Update
On the morning of Wednesday the 24th of September, Guildford Borough Council released a statement that said that ‘new options’ were being explored, with the main aim to ensure that the Electric Theatre’s future was secured. The Leader of Guildford Borough Council, Councillor Julia McShane, said that one of the key aspects of what the Council were doing was to ‘look beyond’ purely the financial value of the theatre, instead ensuring that the theatre’s wider social value and the ‘unique significance’ of the venue were put at the top of the agenda as its future was considered.
The Council has been a key player in terms of the initial creation of the theatre as well as the management of it since it opened for the first time in the late 1990s. The building was initially formed in what had been the electric works, which is where it takes its name from. That had closed in the middle of the 1960s, with operations moving to a larger facility and leaving the building empty for the three decades that followed. With the theatre holding a special place in the hearts of many who live in Guildford, it is seen as vital that a plan is put in place for its long-term existence.
Community Will Be at the Heart of What Follows
Councillor Julia McShane confirmed that, moving forward, the Council would ensure that community groups and local partners would be put at the centre of the journey over what happens next. The aim is to ensure that the Guildford community is put front and centre when it comes to coming up with a shared vision for the theatre’s future. Everyone who cares about the theatre can take part in a roundtable conversation that is being organised by the Council, allowing the views of the community to be heard by those that will be responsible for what happens to it next.
As Councillor McShane said, the Electric Theatre is ‘not just a building’ in the eyes of many from Guildford, so the chance to be able to ‘explore new ideas’ and look for opportunities to collaborate. The theatre’s long-term future is dependent on coming up with a sustainable economic plan, which will allow for both the community to use it and also significantly less money being lost over the coming years. The ‘Asset of Community Value’ that is the theatre should be honoured, with residents that have ideas of how it can be used invited to get in touch with the Council.