A building which helps “define what Brighton is about” has reopened its doors as part of a multi-million regeneration project to make it a UK cultural landmark.
Brighton Dome’s Grade I and Grade II-listed Corn Exchange and Studio Theatre underwent a six-year revamp costing £38 million, in a bid to draw in international and local artists and visitors to the historic site.
The Corn Exchange and main concert hall was originally built as a stable block and riding house in 1803 by the Prince Regent, Prince George, to complement his seaside palace, Brighton Pavilion.
The Royal Pavilion Estate, which includes Brighton Dome, came into public ownership in 1850.
Among its features, a golden horse with balloons hangs from the ceiling and 1800s original wooden beams have been restored to fill the 550-seat Corn Exchange theatre space.
During a soft opening earlier this year of the Van Gogh Alive exhibition, the venue attracted more than 78,000 visitors, and live performances beginning in November have sold out, the site’s boss said.
Chief executive of Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival, Andrew Comben, told the PA news agency: “It is an incredibly iconic building and set of buildings, and for many people they define what Brighton is about.
“So making those as exciting as they possibly can be and as inviting as they possibly can be feels like a no brainer for us and for the city at large.
“We help to drive the local economy to really inspire visitors to come and to explore the wider region. So it has been a really vitally important regeneration project from that perspective, and then for our longer-term sustainability, not just us as an organisation but us as a city. That’s really important.”
The buildings have seen “a lot of life” with multiple uses over the years, from being a hospital that treated Indian soldiers in the First World War to a women’s roller-skating football space.
Evidence of soldiers smoking on the roof and a collection of letters believed to belong to patients were discovered during the refurbishment.
This is the first phase of a wider project by Brighton and Hove City Council, Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival, and Brighton and Hove Museums to make the Royal Pavilion Estate a landmark heritage destination in the UK.
They hope once the full project is complete for the sites to bring in 1.5 million visitors and £68 million to the city’s economy.
This may sound mega-expensive and it was, but it sounds as if this investment might well reap major financial dividends for the city in due time (unlike the pathetic I360). Bold – but sensible – investment is the way to go for B&H, which has some unique existing ‘attractions’ already. However, the council, or whoever, has to make the whole surrounds to these places attractive to visitors as well (i.e. clear out the sub-human dross that inhabits the City Centre, get rid of the graffiti, get the fountain working and lit as it once was and make the City Centre a welcoming place for residents and visitors alike). Maybe the new Labour Council and the new CEO can buy into this vision, unlike the past long-‘serving’ non-visionary CEO (not the interim chap) and see what we could be again with a bit of effort and will. Doesn’t actually need to cost several arms and legs – it just takes will and effort by the council to clear out the dross from the City Centre, whether sub-human or otherwise, and return it to how it once was., which was a really good place to visit , eat and spend money.
“sub-human dross”
There is zero reason to use language like that.
It says a lot about what sort of person you are.
It is ironic this cost the same as the green i-sore investment
This one’s an asset for the next 100 years the other an uncapped debt for as long.
Criminals or green councilors, who is worse?
Friend of mine visited the Van Gogh experience when it was on and thought it was stunning. She also bought the catalogue/book that went with it and I’m sure many others bought souvenirs. Additionally, this isn’t a one-dimensional thing, often grounded by fog, with little to see once you’re up there, like the I-sore. All sorts of things can happen in the Corn Exchange and theatre, whether that’s innovative exhibitions like Van Gogh or live performances and it is the right way to go. It’s going to pay back the investment fairly quickly and make substantial profits in my opinion. But it still depends on making the whole area a great visitor experience, which means cleaning it up, clearing out the dubious characters that lurk in it, sorting out the Pavilion Gardens properly and so on. That is more about human investment and buy-in from the council, police and decent traders than spending vast sums of money, so let’s hope that the new political administration and new CEO can see the potential of this and get stuck into dealing with it. I hesitate to say ‘Let’s make Brighton great again’, as it is an unwelcome reminder of a certain US politician, but it was great once and can be again IF the will and buy-in is there.
PS: I would enthusiastically lobby my local councillors on this but one of them is embroiled in the ‘expelled from the Labour Party, don’t live here but won’t resign’ scandal and is totally absent/uncontactable and the other one, despite living here, is also totally useless and invisible. However, if anyone lives towards the City Centre and has a decent councillor (or knows a rep of a Residents’/Traders’ Association or something like that), then, if you are in favour of an initiative to transform the area around the Corn Exchange/theatre/Dome etc, please do contact/lobby these people. Nothing will happen otherwise.
Message to Chris C (my reply button still isn’t working). There are two people on this website (you are one of them, and have past form, and the other one, who is worse, pops up absolutely everywhere as some kind of self-styled expert guru on every subject under the sun, although he has never stated any sort of credentials for his ubiquitous and tiresome opinions. Fortunately, there are now people who are actively challenging his competence/credentials and I no longer bother to read his posts – or yours, although I did see this latest one. Lately, you two have been joined by another person, whose only contribution is to slag off people that he thinks voted Labour or Green in Kemptown at the last local elections and deserve all they get. No proper arguments – just unreasoning vitriol. Not all Kemptown residents voted for Lab/Greens. as the figures prove, so he has now joined you and the self-styled expert guru as people to be totally ignored.