Reopened entertainment hall 'could transform town'

Sam Margrave, from the community group now running the venue, believes it will transform Bedworth

A Warwickshire entertainment venue has reopened two years after a council closed it, citing the cost of keeping it going.

Bedworth Civic Hall is now being operated by community group after they signed a lease with Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council.

Chair of Bedworth Civic Hall Charitable Incorporated Organisation, Sam Margrave, said the building was in a really good state and what it had needed was "some love and care".

The venue, which opened in 1973, had been closed since October 2022 after the local authority said it could no longer afford the running costs.

The site was closed in 2022 after being used as a Covid vaccination centre

It had cost about £80,000 to get the building operational, said Mr Margrave, but the process to save and reopen the site "had literally been two years of our lives".

Bedworth Civic Hall was at the heart of the high street and the community and the memories people had shared of performing or visiting it had been "really touching", he said.

The first show to be staged at the reopened venue on Friday evening was a performance by the Julie Bromage Dance Academy.

"I know we have done the right thing in fighting for this [the civic hall]... I think this will change people's lives and transform the town, and it's only the beginning," said Mr Margrave.