Arts centre's £700k upgrade gets green light

Bridgwater Arts Centre was the first publicly funded arts centre in England

Improvements to England’s first dedicated arts centre can begin after Somerset Council approved a £700,000 project.

Bridgwater Arts Centre is set to receive the cash from a pot of £23.2m awarded to the town by the government.

The funding was earmarked for the centre in September 2022 and plans were submitted to the county council in December 2023.

Work to improve disabled access and update exhibition spaces have now been given the go-ahead by county councillors.

The Grade 1-listed building in Castle Street was initially a private residence before being converted into a theatre in the 1930s.

When it was put up for sale in 1945, local arts patron Gwen Pollard spotted the opportunity to open an arts centre for the people of Bridgwater and applied to the newly created Arts Council for support.

It became the first public arts centre in England to open with Arts Council funding.

The theatre was extended in the early 1980s when a neighbouring property was purchased.

'Signifcant benefits'

As well as money from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), the centre has received £66,800 from Bridgwater Town Council.

It is also providing £22,438 from its own funds, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The renovations, which are due to begin later this summer and expected to take six months, will also include the addition of equipment storage space.

A spokesman for historic buildings conservation consultants Philip Hughes Associates, which is working with the town council, said the updates were modest but would bring “significant” benefits.

“The improvements proposed can be seen to be beneficial to the arts centre by allowing for unused and under-utilised spaces to be brought into use,” he said.

The spokesman added that the proposals had been designed to ensure “minimal damage to the historic fabric of the building”.