Festival Hall Proposal Letter - Newspaper Cutting, 1975
Title
Festival Hall Proposal Letter - Newspaper Cutting, 1975
Date
1 November 1975
Description
Letter sent to and printed in the Nottingham Evening Post regarding the proposed Festival Hall development by Nottingham City Council.
What's the story?
In the 1970s it was the vision of Nottingham City Council, under the leadership of Councillors Len Maynard and John Carroll, to create innovative and major changes to the Theatre Royal and its surrounding buildings.
With the idea of a Festival Hall complex, which would include a refurbished and modernised Theatre Royal, on the site of the now razed Empire Theatre on South Sherwood Street would stand a new Concert Hall.
In order to enable the Theatre Royal to accommodate new offices, dressing rooms and a large loading bay to enable large-scale work from visiting companies, it was also proposed that the Victorian built County Hotel, immediately adjacent to the Theatre Royal be purchased and demolished.
At a time of austerity in Britain, these proposals were controversial due to the large amounts of money to be spent on the project, as well as the demolition of the County Hotel, a much-loved building in the city.
The arguments for and against these proposals were regularly played out on the letters page of the Nottingham Evening Post, the local daily paper for the city and whose offices at the time were directly opposite the proposed Concert Hall site on Forman Street.
This letter is from Miss C.J. Whitbourn, Secretary for Nottingham Civic Society, an organisation formed in 1962 that advises and campaigns on developments and regeneration within Nottingham, in relation to the city’s history and heritage.
The letter clearly states that the Society welcomes redevelopment of the area, but seriously questions the demolition of the County Hotel, as an important historic building …
“I feel sure that there must be many people who regard the County Hotel as a building of character and quality which, in a city that has already lost so many interesting older buildings, it is important to preserve.”
With the idea of a Festival Hall complex, which would include a refurbished and modernised Theatre Royal, on the site of the now razed Empire Theatre on South Sherwood Street would stand a new Concert Hall.
In order to enable the Theatre Royal to accommodate new offices, dressing rooms and a large loading bay to enable large-scale work from visiting companies, it was also proposed that the Victorian built County Hotel, immediately adjacent to the Theatre Royal be purchased and demolished.
At a time of austerity in Britain, these proposals were controversial due to the large amounts of money to be spent on the project, as well as the demolition of the County Hotel, a much-loved building in the city.
The arguments for and against these proposals were regularly played out on the letters page of the Nottingham Evening Post, the local daily paper for the city and whose offices at the time were directly opposite the proposed Concert Hall site on Forman Street.
This letter is from Miss C.J. Whitbourn, Secretary for Nottingham Civic Society, an organisation formed in 1962 that advises and campaigns on developments and regeneration within Nottingham, in relation to the city’s history and heritage.
The letter clearly states that the Society welcomes redevelopment of the area, but seriously questions the demolition of the County Hotel, as an important historic building …
“I feel sure that there must be many people who regard the County Hotel as a building of character and quality which, in a city that has already lost so many interesting older buildings, it is important to preserve.”
Type
Newspaper Cutting
Location of item
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Rights
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Contributor
Researcher: David Longford
