'Coliseum could never have reopened'

COUNCIL LEADER SAYS LATEST REPORT DOESN'T ADDRESS MAJOR ISSUES WITH BUILDING

- CHARLOTTE GREEN

OLDHAM'S council leader says the Coliseum theatre building could not have been saved despite a new report suggesting it could reopen.

It closed at the end of March after the theatre was dropped from the Arts Council England funding portfolio despite a passionate campaign by actors, their union Equity and residents to keep it operational.

Oldham council says that it had reached an agreement with the theatre more than ten years ago that the building was not fit for purpose.

The Coliseum theatre company has been chosen as the main tenant for a new £26m theatre in the town in the former Post Office and Quaker meeting house on Union Street.

But the new venue in the emerging cultural quarter of the town won't be completed until 2026.

It is the third such masterplan for a new Coliseum for the town, after the last major scheme - a £27m new theatre was scrapped in 2018.