We reproduce here some of the key pages from the deed, drawn up in March this year, which Croydon Council has presented to developers Stanhope, demonstrating the greedy grab for the £3 million grant that had been promised to provide a new Warehouse Theatre.
Check out Piggy Ashcroft’s report by clicking here.
Note the date, March 29: this document was being drawn up when Croydon was preparing to cut the ground from under the Warehouse’s feet by axing its promised £30,000 grant.
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Has this dastardly deed been signed by Stanhope?
The company will have to borrow the money and I doubt it would be willing or able to do so without knowing the completion date of the first commercial building on site. With the present parlous state of the commercial property market, that’s anyone’s guess.
But the document is interesting in that it shows clearly Croydon Council’s intention to continue propping up the tired old Fairfield; a building that has long since passed its use-by date.
The concert hall caters for a market that either no longer exists – rock concerts are now stadium or festival events – or one that is now better served elsewhere – the recently renovated Festival Hall offers world-class classical concerts and is only 20 minutes by train from East Croydon (the south bank entrance of the new Blackfriars station is just across the road).
The Ashcroft Theatre has limited space backstage, making it unsuitable for pre- or post- West End shows. Stand-up comedy, pantomime and the Chuckle Brothers are all worth presenting and good fun to watch, but I doubt they are frequent enough to put a bum on every seat day by day.
Has anyone commissioned an independent viability study of Fairfield and its current market before committing yet more public money to this increasingly expensive white elephant? I doubt it. I suspect the decisions are based on dewy-eyed nostalgia: not a criterion recognised by the District Auditor, I hope.