When the Hippodrome reopens, it will have a bigger roof and be able to hold a larger audience after these and other changes were approved by the council.
The decision means that work can move forward at the historic venue in Middle Street, Brighton, with the venue increasing its capacity from 1,800 to 2,300 people.
Brighton and Hove City Council’s Planning Committee voted in favour of an application to make a number of changes to the existing planning permission for the grade II* listed building.
The changes include removing a number of features – from the previously proposed rehearsal space in the fly tower to the rooftop restaurant and bar and a members’ club with an external terrace.
The venue can now have a higher roof and wider fire escape. The entrance portico can be removed and replaced with a decorative surround. And the phasing of the restoration work has been tweaked.
Simon Lambor, from Hippodrome owner Matsim, welcomed the decision having set out the family firm’s case to the Planning Committee at Hove Town Hall this afternoon (Wednesday 1 April).
Outside the meeting, he said: “It’s another important step forward and I’m now looking forward to the work getting momentum and opening as soon as possible.”
In the meeting, Mr Lambor said that the business had committed to spend £3 million on the new acoustic roof to reduce noise from the venue so that it would not affect neighbours.
Both Matsim and the proposed operator, believed to be Live Nation’s Academy Music Group, completed acoustic tests and a transport analysis before the planning application was submitted.
The decision to scrap the previously proposed members’ bar and foyer restaurant were intended to fit in with the operator’s focus on the auditorium.
Addressing neighbours’ concerns about capacity, Mr Lambor said that the proposed 2,300 was significantly lower than the 4,000 who saw the Beatles and the Rolling Stones at the Hippodrome in the 1960s.
Mr Lambor said: “Complying with the modern regulations has not been an easy task when you have a 125-year-old grade II* listed theatre to work with.
“The Hippodrome makes up over an acre of the old town. It’s laid dormant for so long (that it) has led to the area becoming a crime hotspot – a dark spot in a position so close to West Street, the seafront and The Lanes.”
Neighbours in Ship Street Gardens and in Avalon House, in West Street, which has a rear entrance in Middle Street, welcomed Matsim’s restoration of the Hippodrome.
But they shared concerns about the effects of hundreds of customers leaving the venue.
Ship Street Gardens representative Channa Karunaratne said that the narrow twitten had no protection, gates or barriers to protect residents from passing pedestrians.
Mr Karunaratne said: “This is not an abstract risk to us. Ship Street Gardens and Middle Street have already endured over 15 years of ongoing anti-social behaviour.
“These proposals, combined with those existing pressures, create an unprecedented level of impact which is a real and not theoretical risk, making our homes here unliveable.”
The planning application includes a commitment to have marshals at each end of the twitten during events.
Avalon House representative Chris Smith said: “It is a much bigger roof that’s been proposed.
“I recognise the importance of the sound and managing the sound but I’m just wondering if there aren’t smarter ways of being able to do that.
“We all want this iconic building to be open and to live again but it has to live alongside its local residents.”
Conservative councillor Carol Theobald, who saw the Beatles when they played at the Hippodrome, said that the restoration work was spectacular.
She acknowledged residents’ concerns, saying: “I know they’re worried about any noise and the crime but I think they’ll be a bit protected with the marshals and the CCTV.
“This has been vacant since 2006 and I think if it had been left, it would have just deteriorated beyond repair.”
Green councillor Kerry Pickett said: “I know people are worried about extra traffic but this was always going to be renovated. It was always on the cards. I’m really glad to see that it is happening.”
Labour councillor Alison Thomson, who chairs the council’s Planning Committee, said: “We’ve got some quite robust conditions there. We’ve got noise looked at. We’ve got transport looked at.
“I’m putting every faith in the venue operator that this marshalling will work.”
The Hippodrome remains on the Historic England and Theatres Trust “at risk” register, having been empty for 20 years, even though it now has a new roof and dry rot has been removed.
