By Local Democracy Reporter Daniel Esson
It has been confirmed that Margate Winter Gardens will receive a £4 million cash boost to address the “financial gap” identified by potential new operators and kick-start a council’s hunt for interested parties again.
The Winter Gardens has been shut since August 2022, when Your Leisure – the company which managed it – handed its lease back to the council.
Thanet District Council (TDC) originally allocated £300,000 to undertake surveys and marketing of the historic concert hall – built in 1911 – looking for companies to take over its management.
The authority is set to relaunch its marketing campaign following the “desperately needed” funding injection in an attempt to drum up more interest.
The project has received the extra money which was originally set for the “Destination Dreamland” project.
Dreamland was set to receive the cash from the Levelling Up Fund of £22.2 million allocated to TDC.
However, Dreamland’s owners said last month they would not be accepting that money and would instead develop their own plans for the Dreamland Cinema site.
At the end of last year, LN-Gaiety acquired a significant controlling interest in Sands Heritage, the then-owners of Dreamland.
LN-Gaiety is a joint venture between Live Nation and MCD Production’s Gaiety which, as of December, took ownership of more than 75% of the shares in Sands Heritage.
The global concert giant said it no longer required the government money, which was allocated to go towards the restoration of its art deco, seafront cinema building, meaning it needed to be allocated elsewhere.
TDC’s administration then proposed reallocating it to the Winter Gardens, which was approved at a meeting of the cabinet on March 14.
Council leader Cllr Rick Everitt (Lab) told the cabinet: “We’re all anxious to get on and see things delivered.
“I think we’re all quite excited about having the £4m potentially available for the Winter Gardens and I’m sure we all probably recognise that that and the port in Ramsgate are the two highest profile projects that we’ve got.”
Opposition leader Cllr Reece Pugh (Con) added: “I really welcome the £4m from the Dreamland project is now going to be going towards the Winter Gardens. I think that’s a proposal that everyone can support
“It’s really encouraging that we can make something good of that and it provides a lot of the funding that I think is desperately needed so we can find an operator to take that on.”
The local authority has confirmed there has been one formal expression of interest in running the venue since it marketed it, and “a number of interested parties”.
The council has already spent or committed £162,000 of the £300,000 originally budgeted for the Winter Gardens on surveys and marketing the building through real estate agency Colliers.
A cabinet report explains that “a financial gap was a recurring theme” in responses to the marketing – with businesses saying the ailing concert hall needs expensive works done before it can be used properly.
TDC now intends to re-run the marketing campaign, which is expected to last three to four weeks, in a bid to entice bidders again with the additional funding now agreed.
The report explains the £4m is set to be “seed investment” into the Winter Gardens which will make the building more attractive to possible operators.
