Fairfield Halls is under threat of closure unless the Croydon Council can raise the money to pay for a £20-million-plus restoration scheme on the major arts complex, a senior official has warned.

Cutbacks in public spending by the Con-Dem Government means that Croydon – with a budget of only £10 million for the essential work – may not have enough cash to pay for the overhaul of the Fairfield Halls.

In today’s Croydon Advertiser, senior reporter Ian Austen reports Councillor Dudley Mead as saying, “It has to happen or Fairfield will just close.”

Croydon council owns the freehold to the 48-year-old landmark Fairfield Halls, which has an international reputation for staging concerts and arts events of national and regional –  and not only borough-wide – significance.

Redevelopment and refurbishment of the Fairfield Halls has been discussed for several years, but since losing its £1 million-a-year grant from Conservative-controlled Croydon Council in 2005, financing the venue’s arts programme and maintaining the fabric of the main hall, the Ashcroft Theatre and the Arnhem Gallery has become an increasing struggle.

Austen reports that the Fairfield board has already rejected the options of doing nothing or pulling the whole complex down.

A report outlining the favoured refurbishment plans may be discussed at the council cabinet meeting next month, when a range of Croydon-wide spending projects following this week’s Budget will be up for discussion.

Read the full CA story here: The only alternative to restoring Croydon’s Fairfield Halls is closure, its board chairman warned this week..