London Mayor pledges £15,000 to campaign to save Streatham Theatre

The Mayor of London today announced that the campaign to save the historic Streatham Hill Theatre will receive a pledge of £15,000 as part of Crowdfund London.

This pledge will support plans to revive the dormant 2,800 capacity theatre as a multi-purpose arts and cultural venue, creating new opportunities and benefits for the local community.

The pledge will be put towards a crowdfunding campaign for a professional viability study to develop proposals and options for a sustainable business model for the historic theatre for generations to come.

It has not operated as a theatre since 1962 but has housed various bingo companies, including Beacon Bingo which ceased games in January 2017, although slot machines still operate there.

The crowdfunding campaign was launched in January on the Spacehive platform by the Friends of Streatham Hill Theatre and has quickly become the most-backed crowdfunding campaign in the UK currently fund-raising on the platform, attracting more than 300 pledges.

It has gained huge groundswell of support from the local community, political leaders, and businesses, as well as support from the wider creative and heritage communities.

The pledge by the Mayor of London will be a huge boost to the campaign’s chances of reaching its crowdfunding goal of £36,000.

The Friends of Streatham Hill Theatre will now focus on a final campaigning push to secure further support from the community and organisations by the May 25 deadline.

David Harvey, chairman of the Friends of Streatham Hill Theatre, said: “I would like to personally thank the Mayor of London for his generous support for our campaign to save Streatham Hill Theatre.

“His support, and the many generous pledges from the community, mean we are now in touching distance of our crowdfunding target. Please help us get over the finishing line by pledging your support too.”

Jon Morgan, director of the Theatres Trust, said: “Streatham Hill Theatre is a theatre at risk that has great potential to reopen for theatrical use. The lavish interior is still in extraordinary condition and it is a great shame that the public do not get to see it. There are not many theatres of this scale that could be restored and this funding from the Mayor of London will help the friends group to establish a route to getting this building active once again.”

Pictured top: A previous demonstration outside the theatre