Ware Online Community Forum

A community theatre is one suggestion, and did you see how quickly you managed to knock that one down.
First point to you Steve I guess.

I'd rather there be expressions of interest here rather than ideas posted to have them shot down by Steve and Co*.

* Co: you know who you are.

Craig, I'd be happy to sit down and see if we could make this work in any way. £650k is more than I have in the piggy bank, but not a huge amount. I like Damo's suggestion of a community theatre, I am sure there are other things we could think of.

Perhaps an alternative way of looking at it is which type of venue brings in a good return on investment? Flats are all very well, but they only bring in a single return on the initial investment rather than a good return year on year (unless you set out to make a big profit on service charges).

So, what is making money in Ware? Judging by the High Street, it seems to be restaurants and coffee shops mainly at the moment and when was the last time a pub shut down apart from Waggers?

So, what about a pub/restaurant that doubles up as a coffee shop during the day and then a live event venue in the evenings? I think it's already been done somewhere (the Rex in Berkhampstead perhaps?) but why not a combined restaurant and cinema/live music/theatre venue? You have tables to sit at instead of rows of seats and you pay for a meal and some form of entertainment.

Ian wrote:.. and when was the last time a pub shut down apart from Waggers?

You mean other than the Wine Lodge, Sun & Harrow and French Horn?

A combined use is the only way I would think - each on their own are not likely to generate enough income.

I recall going to an old church somewhere in the west country which now does cinema, theatre, lunch and art exhibitions and was very busy. Also been recently to a nice little community theatre on Southsea (in the old station).

At the risk of being an "& Co" one question is are there local drama groups who would want one.

Not a church at all - here it is http://www.theploughartscentre.org.uk/

(and it's not Southsea, it's on Hayling Island - http://www.hayling-dramatics.hampshire.org.uk/)

Ian - I definitely think you're working along the right lines there! You could convert the front third into housing through a profit share with a developer, keep the arts centre at the back to service some of the loan and then sweat the building for as many hours of the week as possible. Split it up in a modular fashion so you can have child care, flexible space for learning institutions or extra meeting capacity for local firms, live music or entertainment venue on the weekends, brasserie during the day....

If there's a serious community interest in making something of it - I'm interested.

Have you formed a Steering Committee yet? When you do I think it would be wise to try and get two or three local Councillors on board. They can be come in extremely handy dealing with the local authorities.

What is the Arts Centre's committee doing about the potential sale of the building?

The building hasn't been sold off yet so there is still a possibility that it can be saved for community use a la Drill Hall.

IGS wrote:What is the Arts Centre's committee doing about the potential sale of the building?

They've nothing to worry about. They have a secure lease. Besides, you know someone on the WAC committee anyway, so why not ask him?

IGS wrote:there is still a possibility that it can be saved for community use a la Drill Hall.

And therein lies another potential problem. The fact that there is already an existing space for community use. The Drill Hall is a fantastic building and a community space that has tons of potential.

In theory, Fletcher's lea and the drill hall could both be put to great use - but they never have been. If you were to combine the potential of those three sites with some joined up and assertive leadership, we probably wouldn't be having this discussion!

craig wrote:I'd rather there be expressions of interest here rather than ideas posted to have them shot down by Steve and Co*.

A little harsh, maybe.

It's only too easy in threads like these to say "I'd like a ...." with *no* idea of the costs & hurdles to overcome. So, it's probably helpful to have a reminder of the challenges that need to be addressed.

And pleased to see that there are more thought through suggestions coming through.

Interesting to think about current utilisation of the Drill Hall, though. How heavily utilised is it? For the uses discussed, I'd see Waggers as more suitable for 100-250 live music stuff, but probably too low ceilinged for much more than very intimate drama. The Drill Hall, appears a great candidate for am-dram, classical/brass stuff.

There are parallels here with the new fish & chip shop thread. Is there unserved business that would work only in Waggers, or would it take business away from the Drill Hall? I don't know enough about all of the ents going on in Ware to know if that's the case. Although I suspect there isn't *that* much - but is there genuine demand for more?

I also wonder why school assembly halls aren't used more for public events. Is it reluctance from the schools, or reluctance from the hirers? The facilities are pretty good at both Chauncy & Presdales.