A multi-million pound scheme to keep a major venue operating on the other side of the Pennines points to a way forward for the Guild Hall.
The Crucible, seen as the home of snooker although Preston has plenty of baize pedigree too, has been handed a major boost by the government to be redeveloped.
While it is grade-II listed and has continued to operate compared to Preston’s venue being mothballed since 2019, the reason the announcement catches the eye is for a few reasons.
Read more: Action Records and Preston music legend Gordon Gibson backs city venue petition
The first, is there’s no getting away from this is central government stepping in to help deal with an ageing cultural venue.
A total of £35m of public money, a mix of central and local government funds, has been put in and there’s due to be a £10m top-up from private sector and philanthropic partners. It’s important to note this isn’t a publicly-owned building either, Sheffield Theatres is a registered charity and not-for-profit entity in its own right and operates other venues in Sheffield.
Secondly, there’s a ‘flexible’ approach to the venue and how it will operate in the future.
Within the plans is the ability to increase the size of its capacity by 50 per cent when required to ‘allow it to present productions fully in the round’.
It means it can ‘scale up and down in size’ when needed. Often the criticism of the Grand Hall in Preston is that it’s not large enough to attract certain size acts – falling instead in a no-mans land of being either too big or too small.
Thirdly, a visible leaning on the private sector and others to help. The Prime Minister himself has been to Sheffield and “hosted a roundtable with business and philanthropic stakeholders, recognising the role of Sheffield Theatres as the ‘national theatre of the north’ and encouraging them to support the redevelopment.”
Sheffield Theatres say ‘these discussions with government have helped build momentum behind the project, while also creating potential opportunities for further partners to get involved.
Being cynical, the reason why there’s been so much focus from the government in this is perhaps given away in the government department driving it as Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, Stephanie Peacock MP is quoted.
She says “As a South Yorkshire MP, I know how much the Crucible means to the people of Sheffield.”
This means we need the collective efforts of Preston, and the surrounding areas MPs, to fight vocally, and without fear of the whip, for ensuring they play their part in resolving the Guild Hall saga. A fully functioning venue for Preston is not just important for the city – but for the ring of towns and places around it too.
And that’s why our petition, which is approaching 2,500 signatures, is aimed squarely at the Secretary of State, Lisa Nandy MP, to intervene and show support for Preston’s ambitions.
No situation, or venue, is ever the same. But Preston can perhaps take heart, and inspiration, from the Crucible scheme.
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