Plans for Sir Ken Dodd Happiness Centre scrapped
The £15 million centre would have housed his vast collection of jokes and other s
Last updated 18th Aug 2025
A multi-million pound scheme to create a happiness centre in honour of one of Liverpool’s most famous sons will not go-ahead after failing to secure funding. Last August, proposals for the £15million Sir Ken Dodd Happiness Centre were signed off by Liverpool Council to be built next to the Royal Court Theatre.
The site was designed to create an environment in which to exhibit Sir Ken’s vast personal collection of artefacts and joke books, spanning some seven decades. It had been hoped work would begin this year with a view to opening in 2026.
Now, “with a heavy heart” trustees of the scheme, including Sir Ken’s widow Lady Anne, have confirmed it will not go ahead after failing to secure funding through the National Heritage Lottery Fund. As a result, the charitable foundation set up in the late comedian’s name has “reluctantly” withdrawn from the project.
Since last December, the trustees of the Ken Dodd Charitable Foundation (KDCF) and the Royal Court Liverpool Trust (RCLT) have been working together for the past eight months to secure alternative funding avenues, but both have cited a challenging public funding backdrop for new capital projects.
Both have already invested in the development, design and planning of the project with a pledge from KDCF to cover two thirds of the cost of a new build. Before he died in 2018, aged 90, Sir Ken had set up the foundation to support performing arts charities and organisations across the UK, particularly in Merseyside.
KDCF is run by trustees including Anne, Lady Dodd, who leads the foundation and has played an incredibly active role supporting many good causes since the passing of her husband. Confirming the decision to not move ahead, Anne said: “It is with a heavy heart and only after much deliberation that the trustees of the Ken Dodd Charitable Foundation reluctantly decided to withdraw support for the Sir Ken Dodd Happiness Centre project.
“Ken loved the city of Liverpool, the people who live here and the marvellous Merseyside sense of humour. Comedy was Ken’s life, and he was always eager to help, advise and offer encouragement to new comedians and new talent.
“An iconic museum and heritage attraction where entertainers could rehearse and perform, linked to a permanent exhibition of Ken’s treasured artifacts and joke books, would have been a most fitting tribute to a man who was viewed as a national icon, not just in Liverpool. It is a shame, despite the best efforts of the Royal Court Theatre and the Ken Dodd Charitable Foundation, that we could not attract the level of funding necessary to turn our vision into reality.
“The Sir Ken Dodd Happiness Centre is a fantastic idea. It would have been a wonderful addition to Liverpool’s already extensive and renowned cultural assets.
“We, along with the RCLT, were totally committed to the Happiness Centre project but like so many other people at this time we are feeling the impact of the economic climate.
“There are so many deserving organisations needing financial support and the substantial funds we had set aside for this project will ultimately help other good causes across Merseyside and elsewhere in the UK in the future, in line with our foundation’s mission statement and Ken’s wishes before he died.”
Gillian Miller, chief executive of the Royal Court Theatre, added:
“ Since the disappointing setback of failing to achieve a grant from the National Heritage Lottery Fund, we have spent the past eight months trying to find alternative funding to enable this wonderful scheme to proceed.
"Sadly, in the current economic climate, we have been unable to find the additional funding required for the construction of this new building and alternative schemes do not meet requirements.
“We therefore mutually decided along with our donor, the Ken Dodd Charitable Foundation, to shelve our plans at this time. There simply aren’t sufficient funds available to meet the demands of so many projects like ours at this moment in time.”