E&E | 08 March 2012 | Turn bus station site into new theatre

08 March 2012

 

Turn bus station site into new theatre

 ARTS lover Steve Bloomfield has launched a campaign for a major concert venue to be built in Exeter.

He believes it would be better than a swimming pool in the bus station redevelopment – but here he is at odds with Cllr Pete Edwards, leader of the Citry Council. Mr Bloomfield said: "We have nothing that would bring anything of an international level to the city.

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"This site would be ideal as it is right in the centre and if a large venue is not going to go there then it is not going to go anywhere. A theatre or concert hall needs to be in the heart of the city so that it can help bring business to nearby restaurants and pubs."

He claimed putting a swimming pool on the bus station site is not imaginative enough. "Exeter really needs to up its game – it should be the premier city in the South West for the arts," he said.
"We don't have an internationally recognised cultural and artistic centre capable of attracting top-flight acts from around the world. We have no venue with the capacity to make it economically viable to bring bands like our very own Coldplay to Exeter or to bring full orchestras and choruses to our city."

He added: "There is every reason to believe that Exeter and the rest of Devon, Somerset and Cornwall can generate enough patronage to make such a venture economically viable."
Mr Bloomfield said he hopes enough people will join his campaign to make the city council consider a theatre as an option.

But council leader Pete Edwards questioned whether a large theatre on the bus station site would be viable.

He said: "Exeter is much smaller than cities like Cardiff and is too small to have a theatre of this size.

"We have a big theatre in Plymouth and if we had one similar in Exeter I think it would destroy both.

"I don't think people from Exeter mind going down to Plymouth to see a show – it is only an hour away and a lot of people do go down. We have the Northcott, and the Barnfield and there are lots of theatre groups in Exeter."

E-mail: steveblmfld13@gmail.com for more information on the campaign.