Arun Arts dumped as Bognor theatre operator

The bleak prospect was envisaged by the trustees of Arun Arts after they were dumped from the future of live entertainment in the town. The four trustees held an emergency meeting yesterday morning to consider their future at the Regis Centre just hours after Arun District Council rejected their bids to run the town's proposed new entertainment venue. Arun Arts has a 38-year lease for the centre, which includes the 365-seat Alexandra Theatre, which has to be surrendered before any redevelopment can begin.

Adam Cunard, one of the trustees, claimed Arun's move could cost the town dearly. "Far from regenerating our town, this proposal may well result in no theatre and no Picturedrome cinema," he stated. "We would have refused to hand over our lease until the lease for the new theatre was signed and it was guaranteed that the new theatre would be built," he stated.

"That will not happen now. The development agreement (between Arun and developer St Modwen) does not guarantee the provision of a theatre.

"Because of our unique situation, as holders of the current lease of the Regis Centre, Arun Arts was the only bidder able to guarantee the continuance of live theatre in Bognor. There may not even be room in the new centre for a theatre if a five-screen cinema is built because it will be squeezed out."

Arun Arts is linked to the Picturedrome through the cinema's operating company of which Mr Cunard is managing director to the benefit of the Alexandra Theatre in the Regis Centre. "As a local organisation, all our profits are put back into the town," Mr Cunard explained. "That will not be the case with an outside company."

He continued: "The trustees are surprised and puzzled over the selection process. It was admitted that Arun Arts put in the most detailed and researched bid.

"As for the Picturedrome, we will fight over every film with the new cinema but I can't see the town being able to support two cinemas. It would be a tragedy if the Picturedrome closed."

He claimed Openwide's submission for the area around the centre, as well as the building, exceeded the bid requirements.

The charitable trust was rejected as the new operator of an intended 500-seat theatre and three to five-screen cinema on the Regis Centre site in favour of Openwide International. A likely opening date is 2012-14 but the existing building, on a district council-owned site, will have to be demolished before the new venue is built.

Openwide runs Bournemouth Pier as well as Cromer Pier and Pavilion Theatre and the Spa Pavilion theatre at Felixstowe.

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