The historic building housing London’s award-winning Cinema Museum
Supporters are fighting to save the much-loved, Time Out Award-winning and Internationally-respected Cinema Museum. Will you join us by signing their petition – the goal is to get to 60,000 signatures before it closes on November 5th. As of today, they are only 1500 signatures short. We can do it- but only with YOUR help.
A statement from the Museum reads as follows: “The old Lambeth Workhouse where Charlie Chaplin spent some of his childhood has been home to The Cinema Museum for 20 years.
Despite numerous attempts to buy the building over the years and promises in writing from our former landlords SLaM (South London and Maudsley NHS Trust) that they would sell it to the Museum for a fair and independent price, they eventually sold it to developers (a company called Anthology – now called Lifestory), telling them our lease expired in March 2018 and implying we can be easily evicted. Lifestory then promised they would agree sustainable terms of ownership with The Cinema Museum by May 2018. However, we still remain in situ on a short lease, due to expire in May 2021. Our latest public statement outlining our position is available HERE.
We are calling out to Anthology/Lifestory; Lambeth Council; The Mayor of London and The Greater London Authority (GLA) to work with The Cinema Museum and the local community to secure an appropriate and sustainable future for the site that will not result in the demise of the Museum.
Please help us to save this beautiful building, this wonderful collection and our important work, by signing the petition HERE; by spreading the word through social media and by donating to our Save The Cinema Museum fund HERE.
The much-neglected Hulme Hippodrome has had good news in recent days. Its recent listing as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) may just be the turning point in its beleaguered history.
The 1900-seat theatre was built in 1901, and in 1902 another theatre, the Pavilion was built right alongside, with the adjoining arcade housing the head offices of the important Broadhead circuit of theatres, who built and owned both theatres. The Hippodrome also contains another large space, the Floral Hall, as big again as the theatre. So I am sure that you can imagine this is a major combination of buildings, significant for many reasons – both architectural and historical.
Hulme Hippodrome was last used for theatre in the 1960s and then bingo from the mid-1970s until its closure in 1986, from which time it has deteriorated due to non-use and lack of regular maintenance. Hulme Hippodrome has been on the Theatres at Risk Register each year since 2006, when they started the list.
Those wanting to know the full backstory can read it at the ever-dependable Theatres Trust website here.
A religious organisation bought the Hippodrome and operated out of the foyer until the Council slapped a Dangerous Buildings notice on them, during which time the building has been slowly decaying with no upkeep apparent. After invasion by squatters caused further damage, the building was later cleared and secured.
Recently the building was subject to a number of quick attempted sales at inflated prices. However, these sales were stopped and are being investigated as having not disclosed the building being Grade II listed and misleadingly offering it for redevelopment.
The Save the Hulme Hippodrome campaign group was started at the start of 2021 in response to these attempted sales. It has raised a significant amount by Crowdfunding from supporters (including myself), and campaigned for the Hippodrome to become an Asset of Community Value (ACV), which was agreed in mid-August.
Working in partnership with the Theatres Trust, the group has created an sensible and ambitious vision, a detailed and costed Action Plan for the restoration of the building including phased community uses from the earliest safe point possible and is well-placed to further explore that, given appropriate support.
The religious group which owned the buildings before these recent attempted sales may well find the Hippodrome back in its ownership. However, in 2017 the leader of the group was indicted to Africa on charges of child trafficking.
The group is now lobbying the Charities Commission and asks for your help too.
The Group says: “We expect that senior managers at the Charity Commission will be meeting in the next few days to decide whether the building remains with the disgraced charity and is allowed to continue to rot, or whether the Charity Commission will intervene and use their legal powers to hand over the building to an organisation which will secure it and bring it back into community use.
We hope that you will be able to assist us in rescuing the building from dereliction and ensure its future as a community asset. We are encouraging all our supporters to make their feelings known today to the Charity Commission, and a template letter is available in the link below to send. Please share this far and wide.”
You can find the template letter here or find it reproduced in full for you to cut and paste below
I’ve sent my email.
Will you please send yours?
Thank You for your help in trying to bring Hulme Hippodrome back from the brink.
Hulme Hippodrome and Gilbert Deya Ministries (Charity ref# 1051722)
I am writing to request that the Commission acts promptly to intervene on or before the 30 September 2021 to facilitate the return of the Hulme Hippodrome building to the community before it becomes derelict beyond repair. It will not withstand the damages of another winter.
You will be aware that HM Land Registry (HMLR) have now issued a “warning of cancellation” and have written to the solicitors of parties in the chain, saying the pending sales will collapse on 30 September 2021 because of non-compliance with Rule 16 of the Land Registry Rules 2003 unless there is full compliance beforehand. If this happens, the default is that the building would revert to the disgraced GDM charity.
I am asking you to use your powers given by Parliament to secure Hulme Hippodrome and place it fairly with a responsible organisation which will protect the building and ensure it becomes an active community asset once again.
Save Hulme Hippodrome Ltd (SHH) is a non-profit company and has been leading the campaign to save the Hulme Hippodrome, a Grade 2 listed building and has the support of the Manchester City Council. SHH has a detailed and costed Action Plan for the restoration of the building including phased community uses from the earliest safe point possible. SHH has followed legal advice and attempted to negotiate a fair use of the building in utmost good faith with the current owner/s, but nothing at all was forthcoming.
SHH has been actively seeking to rescue the Hippodrome since January 2021 when they uncovered a complicated chain of sales of the building leading to a failed attempt to auction the Grade 2 historic theatre for development. Through their actions the building is now legally registered as an Asset of Community Value. SHH has obtained a RICS-compliant independent valuation and this has been shared with Charity Commission officers and the Interim Managers. I hope that you will be able to assist here in rescuing the building from dereliction and ensure its future as a community asset.
Yours sincerely
UPDATE 30 September
I have just received this from the Charities Commission
Dear Mr Donaldson,
Thank you for your recent email to our Chief Executive, Helen Stephenson, in relation to Floral Hall/The Hulme Hippodrome. As the Head of Investigations, your concerns were passed to me and I am responding on the CEO’s behalf.
In your email, you raised concerns about the sale of the Hulme Hippodrome building and, in particular, the upcoming deadline that HM Land Registry (HMLR) have given the buyer to provide further information.
The Charity Commission has considered the validity of the sale and concluded that it was a valid sale (disposal of land), in accordance with the Charities Act 2011. Despite the failure by the charity to comply with some of the statutory requirements, the sale was valid. The sale was also considered by appointed Interim Managers of the charity, and they reached the same conclusion. Therefore, the current buyer/owners will remain responsible for it, and the Commission no longer have a regulatory role in the matter. This would be subject to change should new evidence be received about the validity of the sale. We would, in that instance, take appropriate action, as necessary.
In consideration of the HMLR’s letter to K & K Solicitors, we note the ongoing objection. Our understanding of the “Warning of cancellation” is that the HMLR will cancel the application to register title unless they receive a full reply to their requisitions. The letter also set out what will happen if an application is cancelled. It has been noted that it did not include the sale being considered invalid or being set aside.
We have, therefore, advised the Secretary of Save the Hulme Hippodrome to contact the HMLR about this matter.
Thank you again for writing to us to express your concerns.
Yours sincerely,
Amy Spiller Head of Investigations Charities Commission
The Frank Matcham Society’s inaugural Zoom presentation is this Tuesday 22nd June at 7pm, when David Fisher of the Brighton Hippodrome group talks about the history of the theatre and its future
The Hippodrome is a Grade II* building partly designed by Frank Matcham, amongst others who provided later alterations. The building has been on the Theatres Trust’s Theatres at Risk register every year since 2013.
It will be interesting not only to hear about the chequered history of the building which has been an ice skating rink, a circus, a variety theatre and a bingo hall, amongst others, but also to find out more details about what the future may bring.
Right now the Hippodrome’s future hangs in the balance owing to the new owners wanting to turn it into a foodie destination, effectively downgrading any entertainment in favour of the food options.
You can book your tickets for this event via TicketSource.co.uk, entering “Frank Matcham Society” in the search box.
Here’s a great opportunity for all of you who, maybe like me, are feeling a little cooped up waiting for this blasted pandemic to ebb. So here’s a great opportunity to go exploring one of the UK’s most historic theatres – without leaving your sofa.
Morecambe Winter Gardens have recorded a comprehensive and very interesting guided tour of this listed but still at risk building.
For just £5, you can sign up to be a Friend of the MWG for a year, and as a special perk you’ll get the guided tour thrown in! It’s well worth the tiny price.
TO ACCESS THE TOUR, visit the theatre’s website here and click on the heading Virtual Tour Join on the top right of the screen
Those of you who remember the wonderful Theatre Museum in Covent Garden will know what a terrific archive of all things theatrical – from costumes to scripts, advertising to music, and everything theatrical in-between, covering centuries of the world’s most celebrated theatrical successes. When the Museum was forced to close, the collection was entrusted to the V&A who gave a solemn undertaking to protect and enhance the collection, which they have done. Until now.
Now the V&A want to abandon the collection. Under new plans, two thirds of the staff will be axed, greatly reducing access to the collection
Many people remember the horrendous advertising campaign from the 1980s which described the V&A as “An ace caff, with quite a nice museum attached.” That sort of philistinism has sadly raised its ugly head again.
SIBMAS has started this petition because performing the UK’s unique arts heritage is at serious risk.
SIBMAS is the International Association of Libraries, Museums, Archives and Documentation Centres of the Performing Arts. SIBMAS is an ITI-UNESCO supported organisation. (www.sibmas.org)
The UK has an extraordinary theatre and performance heritage. The performing arts objects, archives and library cared for by the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) represent the largest and most important resource in this area, supporting scholarship and learning, providing enjoyment and inspiration for countless people around the world.
The V&A have decided to close the department of Theatre and Performance as part of a massive organisational remodelling of the structure of the museum moving into a new structure. This will have a disproportionate and devastating effect on these collections and on the pool of knowledge, expertise and enthusiasm that underpin them and help to make them accessible.
They need your help to not only protect jobs at a time of great uncertainty for libraries, archives and museums, but also to support the vital role that heritage collections play in the cultural sector. At a time, when the Performing Arts have been so badly damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, this national collection should be given more support to protect the past and record the present in order to inform future generations. This is a serious threat to the history of the British live performing arts. The collection is a vital educational and research resource on an international level.
We call on the V&A to reconsider the scale and scope of its poorly thought-out proposals and to consider in particular the following The unique place that the V&A’s theatre collections have in the landscape of theatre research, public engagement with the history of performance, and the creative industries.
The collection’s international status and its remit to collect for the nation, acting in effect as the national collection of Performing Arts for all of UK.
The central place that librarians and archivists and their skills and their commitment play in relation to these collections and the damage to their professions worldwide.
The need to maintain open access to the collections rather than simply put them into storage, against many wishes of donors who have left their collections in safe keeping to the V&A.
The lack of public or stakeholder consultation about the proposed changes.
When the Theatre Museum was closed by the V&A in 2007 staff, public, donors and the creative industries were assured that the department would flourish in its new home. The V&A is in danger of breaking that promise.
We ask senior management of the V&A to reconsider the position of the Theatre & Performance Department before they rush to close the archives and library and make responsible staff redundant.
An internal consultation runs until the end of March. If they get their way, then we are a few short weeks away from untold damage being done to UK Performing Arts heritage and the loss of many jobs which carry with them great specialisms and expertise which will all be lost forever if this senseless cull goes ahead.
Your help by signing this petition will not just help to protect the jobs of specialised and dedicated staff during a time of great uncertainty, it will also protect access to a world class archive for future generations, to enable our great history of world-leading performing arts to be shared with future generations.Do nothing, and it will be lost forever. If your child or grandchild ever in the future wanted be be a researcher, writer or academician in the performing arts, not supporting this petition will deny them their passion. Could you live with that? Sign.
Sign the petition and support the Theatre Collection here
