Leicester’s Haymarket Theatre has been taken off the market by the city council—even though it is costing the authority £180,000 a year in service charges and other costs.
The Haymarket has been empty for most of the time since it closed in 2007 and was replaced by the £61 million Curve. The council has failed to sell the lease on the Haymarket which has another 60 years to run. It is now preparing to consider a business plan for the Haymarket’s future use.
In 2014, Yellow Brick Road Arts started renting the theatre and aimed to turn it into a creative arts training centre. Leicester company Metro-Boulot-Dodo used the Haymarket to rehearse for an outdoor touring project called Safe House which involved high-wire aerial performance.
Yellow Brick Road prepared a business plan for the former 753-seat theatre before vacating it.
A council spokesperson said: “we are continuing to evaluate the business plan prepared by Yellow Brick Road Arts.
“An updated report, setting out the city council's options for the building, is due to be considered in the summer. In the meantime, the building has been taken off the market.
"Our aim remains to find an appropriate use for the space that will generate sufficient income to offset the annual service charge and associated costs which amount to around £180,000 each year.”
The Haymarket was built in 1972 as part of the redevelopment of the adjoining Haymarket shopping centre.
City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said in 2012 that the decision to close the Haymarket was “mismanaged by the city council” and that a buyer should have been secured before productions were transferred to Curve.
He also described Curve as “the most expensive and most disastrous project this city has ever seen in its history”.
He described the Haymarket as “a liability and I would like to see it become an asset”.
Yellow Brick Road’s proposals for the theatre were preferred to alternative schemes for a religious centre and a private medical complex.