Theatre Royal Brighton reopens historic bar in time for Christmas

Historical reports differ but the general agreement is that the bar, originally named The Colonnade Hotel, was built around 1883, acquired by the theatre in 1923 and subsequently operated in house until the early 1990s when it was sublet. The lease has now reverted back to Theatre Royal Brighton to run in house again – but first work needed to be done on it.

Sitting at the heart of the theatre on New Road, underneath The Colonnade, it has now reopened – all part of a massive restoration project which also looks at the theatre’s Grade II* façade, returning it to its original terracotta splendour, plus upgrades to electrics, plumbing, wifi and seating. The theatre is on track to finish the facade in about March.

But the Colonnade Bar is now open again.

Sophie Denney, who took over as Theatre Royal Brighton director this summer, is excited at the prospect: “The lease finished in the summer and we took it back. We did some work on it and had it back open within a week and kept it open for a couple of weeks until we found some more work that needed to happen, structural work.

"And that’s the thing with something which is Grade II* listed. You have to be really careful to keep the building the way it was. Basically we needed to redo the ceiling which is lath and plaster. The building process is to put on lath and then you put plaster over it and then you put anaglypta on top.

"It was decorated in 1883 and we had to keep it the same and you're talking tens of thousands of pounds to do that, to restore the ceiling to the way it looked six months ago but to restore it back to how it should be. It took six to seven layers and with the drying in between, it all took a lot longer than we hoped, but given the time we had to spend restoring the ceiling, we took the opportunity to refurbish a few other things. We have refurbished the toilets downstairs, and the walls and also the carpet have been spruced up.

“Having such a large investment in the front of the building on the façade, it was so important that the Colonnade Bar should be just right too as part of the overarching frontage of the building. And it was really lovely to have the ability to have a bit more strategy, a bit more vision for the whole building.

"When you are looking at the blueprint of the whole theatre, the Colonnade Bar sits right in the middle of the theatre, with the theatre almost wrapping around it. It really does feel like the heart of it and it's brilliant to be able to bring it all together in this way.

“And that is the great thing about the theatre. There is so much history there.

"You almost take it for granted that it is 200 years old and then you think about it, and it is remarkable,” Sophie said.

The last major structural work at Theatre Royal Brighton was in 1927.