The following statement is issued by David Evans, Chairman of Chester Civic Trust, on behalf of the Council of the Trust.
LOCATION OF A NEW THEATRE FOR CHESTER
Chester Civic Trust welcomes the expressed intention of Cheshire West and Chester Council to provide a new theatre in Chester. The Trust believes that :
- Chester needs a new 800 seat theatre which should be in the City Centre.
- The proposed Little Roodee option should be rejected.
- The current Odeon is our preferred location for a new Theatre which could be developed in conjunction with nearby cultural facilities including the Library, Town Hall and Cathedral.
- The option of building a new Theatre on the currently designated Northgate Development site behind the Library should be considered, in case converting the Odeon to a satisfactory theatre proves to be unviable.
David Evans
Chairman – Chester Civic Trust
Chester Civic Trust welcomes the opinions of others but no links to external sites and no comments by the General Public posted on this website should be read as being endorsed by, or are supported by, the Chester Civic Trust unless specifically stated.
Why spend large sums of money on a theatre or altering the Odeon, especially when it is proposed that they should only hold 800 seats, hardly big enough for a touring production when the Gaumont/Mecca Bingo building used to hold almost 2000 seats and had a large stage and restaurant? It has parking nearby, it is near the station, on the ring road, attractively situated near the canal, close to housing developments and hotels. A few years ago it was suggested by Mecca, I was told by Gordon Vickers and confirmed by Andrew Donaldson of Big Storage, that the Bingo could move to the the former Chronicle print works on Sealand Road. Here we have a purpose built building which has twice the capacity of the theatres which have been proposed, conveniently placed and could be readily converted back to a theatre, after finding a suitable site to move the Bingo to (even the Odeon), without waiting for the Odeon conversion to actually happen.
Peter Moore Dutton.
The Gaumont building would be so suitable for a theatre, a stage for ballet and concerts.
I well remember the spacious surroundings which added the performances of all these events, back in the late 50′s.
Please consider this before work begins on the Odeon site. Perhaps the Bingo could be moved to the Odeon, as the Gaumont seems such a huge building to play Bingo in?
Audrey Hodgkinson