More details revealed about Worcester's £18 million regeneration project
Worcester Theatres set to move to the soon-to-be regenerated Scala Theatre
Last updated 11th Nov 2021
Many buildings in the heart of Worcester will be transformed as part of the £17.9 million awarded to the city from the Government’s Future High Streets Fund.
Over the next five years, the former Scala Theatre in Angel Place and the Corn Exchange buildings will be fully refurbished and will re-open as a major new theatre and performing arts venue.
Other buildings in the area, including the former Co-op retail unit, will be converted into residential, office and leisure facilities.
New images show potential for the building to be converted into a food court complete with a roof garden.
Worcester City Council is also offering grants of up to £30,000 to owners of under-occupied properties in the northern part of the city centre.
Worcester Theatres will find a new home at the restored Scala Theatre
Worcester Theatres will move from its home at the city’s Swan Theatre to the soon-to-be regenerated Scala Theatre as part of the multi-million-pound regeneration project.
The centrepiece of the work is the conversion of the formerly listed theatre and neighbouring Corn Exchange into a new performing arts venue and will replace the Swan Theatre.
Sarah-Jane Morgan, chief executive of Worcester Theatres, said the team was sad to be leaving the Swan Theatre but excited to be moving to a new home.
"Worcester Theatres are delighted to be working with the city council on the redevelopment of the Scala Theatre and Corn Exchange," she said.
"The council's aspirations to provide a fabulous new cultural venue for the city offers our organisation the ability to develop ambitious plans to bring new artists and fresh professional programming to Worcester, in turn ensuring we are offering more opportunities and engaging with a wider cross-section of the community in years to come.
"Whilst our team will be incredibly sad to leave the Swan Theatre, which has served both our organisation and others so well over the past decades, we recognise that the new facility will provide our team and all those who engage with the arts a venue future-proofed for decades to come."
Council scraps plan to buy former Panama Jacks restaurant
The former Panama Jacks restaurant in Angel Street will reopen as JAX Bar and Grill under new proposals meaning Worcester City Council has now scrapped plans to buy the building.
Earlier this year, the Council said it was eying up the former restaurant as one part of its huge regeneration project in the area.
Original plans showed the Council taking over the former restaurant which has been empty for a number of years and has gone through various guises including steakhouse Panama Jacks and a Chinese buffet restaurant.
The Council said the money that would have been used to bring the building back into use will now be spent on the new Scala plans.
When will the regeneration project get underway?
A planning application for the redevelopment of the Scala Theatre and Corn Exchange is expected to be submitted next summer.
An update on the regeneration plans, which will be discussed by the Council’s policy and resources committee next Tuesday (16th November), said the Council is expecting the regeneration work to have finished by the end of 2024.
A report commissioned by the Council has suggested using the former Co-op supermarket opposite the two listed buildings as rehearsal space and offices for the new venue.
The Council has however recommended keeping its options for the former Angel Street supermarket open as those plans would affect how much money the building could make in the future.
Earlier this year, the Council said it was looking to buy Trinity House, which sits on the corner of St Nicholas Street and Queen Street, with the building converted into apartments.