Community wins national support to save Stockbridge Theatre

A campaign to save the theatre as a community venue has already won the support of former Edinburgh International Book Festival director Catherine Lockerbie, and a page set up on Facebook has attracted more than 400 followers.

Now the campaign has been backed by the Theatres Trust, a national body, which has added it to its "theatres at risk register".

The trust says the theatre, which helped launch the careers of directors including Andy Arnold, Adrian Harris, Bob Palmer and Gerry Mulgrew, is one of the most at risk in the country.

Mhora Samuel, its director, said: "We've highlighted the trust on our at-risk register this year as we're concerned it is being sold off by City of Edinburgh Council on the open market when the 'Save Stockbridge Theatre Building' group clearly wants to be able to take on the theatre and keep it as an arts and cultural facility for the community."

She added: "If it were just to be sold for redevelopment it would be a great loss to Stockbridge.

"By putting the theatre on the register I hope that we can help to raise awareness of the community's interest and help to attract the funds to purchase the theatre or reach an agreement with the council."

The Save Stockbridge Theatre campaigners want a community lease and to share the space with other theatre groups, and believe it would only require a minimal cost to refurbish the building.

The campaign has won the backing of artists, local residents and creative personalities including Andy Arnold, who is now artistic director of Glasgow's Tron Theatre.

They say the 150-seat venue is one of the few intimate theatre venues left in the city.

Tannid Dodd, the secretary of Stockbridge Community Council, said: "I would hope it will continue to be used rather than just selling it off."

She added that the theatre is an asset to the community although she admitted that a private buyer may still be interested in maintaining it as a community facility.

Councillor Deidre Brock, the city's culture and leisure leader, said: "Unfortunately the building is in need of significant repairs and it will require a considerable amount of money just to get it up to a useable standard."Putting it on the open market does not preclude any potential purchaser from exploring a future cultural use for the premises."

The city put the building on the market last month but has not set a formal asking price.