Investment booster for the Oldham Coliseum

Oldham has received a more than half-a-million pound booster for the reopening of the Coliseum Theatre.

The £656,147 Arts Council England funding will help the town hall bring back the Fairbottom Street venue.

The performance space suddenly closed down in 2023, after the Arts Council withdrew its funding due to the poor state of the theatre’s finances and building. But after furious grassroots campaigning, spearheaded by actor Julie Hesmondhalgh, the council agreed to foot the bill for a £10m renovation. 

The £656k grant is an extension of a £1.845m funding package pledged to the town hall in 2023, and will be used to create a new governance structure and cultural program for the Coliseum.  

Townhall bosses accepted the grant at a cabinet meeting on March 23. Deputy leader Elaine Taylor said: “I just want to say how pleased I am to see this funding confirmed. Oldham’s cultural program and our work to deliver a new theatre for our borough aren’t just ‘nice-to-haves’, they’re critical to our regeneration strategy. 

“This extension from Arts Council England gives us the stability to keep the momentum behind the transformation of our cultural offer which has been years in the making. It supports creativity, it supports jobs. And it supports the kind of town centre where people want to spend time.” 

Oldham Council plans to match the funding with a £138,000 grant to the Coliseum and £127,000 towards development of a new theatre model. The total investment for the theatre this year amounts to more than £921,000.

The Arts Council had planned to open for its next round of funding bids, where organisations across the UK can apply for a portion of around £458.5m to fund cultural projects. But this year’s applications have been delayed due to the Hodge Review, a government report into how the Arts Council is funded and managed. 

So instead, former successful applicants have been offered an extension of their existing grants, with the option to apply for a further extension for a similar amount for next year.