Thanet council has started to clear Margate Winter Gardens ahead of the property being marketed by agent Colliers International.
Some items removed from the building will be put up for auction although item details have not yet been specified.
The Grade II listed building hosted its last performance on August 7 last year during the Margate Soul Festival before the lease was returned to Thanet council by Your Leisure and the doors were shut in readiness for an appraisal report on the venue and its future uses.
The lease hand back came after Your Leisure faced a substantial shortfall in its income as a result of Covid with trading income down by £1.28million in 2020 compared to 2019 and outstanding liabilities in the region of £8m in terms of loans for Hartsdown and Ramsgate leisure centres.
The council, as guarantor for the leisure centre loans, could have faced extra penalties if the loans were redeemed early.
Some £300,000 has been allocated for the Winter Gardens from the £22.2million Margate Town Deal fund for the appraisal.
The initial Town Deal bid included a £4million allocation for works to the historic venue but this fell down when the government Department for Levelling Up – which issued the funding – asked for more detail on long-term plans which could not be supplied.
All options for either lease arrangements, operator agreement or sale for the venue are being kept open.
A £90,000 contract to market the site was put out to tender in the summer and is expected to run until a buyer/operator is found and engaged.
In March a report to councillors said an immediate cost of £2.5m is needed for structural , building and mechanical and electrical works with a further £3.5m estimated over the next 10 years, meaning total costs are estimated at £6.25m.
The detailed marketing pack will be aimed at securing an organisation to refurbish, improve, maintain and operate the venue for uses that could include a concert hall, theatre, event spaces or leisure and tourism uses.
A Thanet council post to social media says: “We’ve started clearing the Winter Gardens today (Wednesday 8 November), to get the building ready to welcome potential operators.
“The first step is to clear the contents of the building, and remove any debris. The majority of this will be recycled in line with our commitment to sustainability and environmentally responsible practices. Our marketing agent Colliers International can then bring the property to the market to secure a long-term operator.
“Some of the items removed from the building will be put up for auction. When confirmed, details of the auction will be made publicly available.”
Cllr Rick Everitt, Leader of Thanet District Council, said: “We appreciate the people of Thanet are passionate about the Winter Gardens, and with good reason. The well-loved venue has been a landmark in the district for decades and it has a fantastic pedigree of attracting some of the nation’s favourite performers.
“You may have seen that we have started to clear the Winter Gardens of its contents. This clearance was always part of our planned activity, to prepare for the renovation process ahead of marketing the venue to potential operators, in order to bring the Winter Gardens back into use.
“We have engaged a professional contractor and council officers are overseeing the clearance process. Any items of cultural value have already been removed, and are now in safe storage. This includes artworks, posters and other irreplaceable memorabilia.
“The rest of the contents, which include miscellaneous pieces of wood, crockery and old furniture have no heritage value. The alternative to disposal would have been for the council to incur costs for remote storage of these items which are unlikely to be needed in the future.
“The majority of these items will be recycled, to ensure that the council’s commitment to sustainability and responsible environmental practices is being met. Some of the better items will be sold by auction and we will publicise details when arrangements have been finalised.
“I want to reassure residents that we are making steady progress on bringing the Winter Gardens back into full use. Our aspirations are to restore this significant heritage asset for many more people to enjoy. I have said this before and will continue to stress that we will not be using the building or the site for housing.
“There is a great deal of work going on behind the scenes, and we expect to be making further announcements next week.”
In November last year ownership of 700 collapsible chairs from the Winter Gardens, Margate was transferred to the Granville Cinema in Ramsgate.
Thanet council agreed the sale of the seating to the Granville owners, saying: “As the building is vacant, the chairs would be vulnerable to further deterioration due to damp and moisture exposure, as well as being a potential fire risk, and further damage during future restoration works.”
The Pavilion and Winter Gardens took just nine months to build, costing £26,000, and opened on August 3, 1911.
When completed the Pavilion and Winter Gardens consisted of: a large Concert Hall, four entrance halls, two side wings and an amphitheatre. Originally the stage could be viewed from both the main hall and the amphitheatre with the ability to enclose the stage in bad weather. The accommodation was for about 2,500 persons inside the building and 2,000 in the open air.
