Kent County Council’s sale by auction of the Memorial Hall – home to the Sarah Thorne Theatre- and Pottery in Broadstairs will take place in just five days time.
Hopes for a reprieve are now fading but Broadstairs mayor Cllr Mike Garner has made a final appeal for the sale to be withdrawn and County Councillor John Finch says he is working on ‘a solution to save the theatre.’
Kent County Council, which owns the Fordoun Road building, is selling the site at a Clive Emson auction on December 11 as part of its asset disposal programme.
A Notice of Intention to Dispose of Broadstairs Memorial Hall and Pottery, was served to Thanet council last year. As an Asset of Community Value (ACV), an Interim Moratorium had to be observed to allow a competitive bid from a community interest group. That time has since expired.
The property is being advertised with a guide price of £350,000 with vacant possession for the pottery and tenanted possession of the Memorial Hall which is let to the Sarah Thorne Theatre Company CIC on a five-year term from 10th October 2025 at a peppercorn rent.
The short term lease has break clauses until long term plans are agreed.
Last week a Kent County Council (KCC) spokesperson said: “The former adult education building in Broadstairs (editor note: this is not the Hilderstone building) is listed in the Clive Emson auction and will be sold on Thursday 11 December.
“This is part of KCC’s plan to redesign adult education across the county after a government budget cut of £521,000 and new national rules that restrict how government funding can be used.
“As part of these changes, KCC now delivers adult education classes from alternative venues in the town which means the former building is no longer needed.
“The property is listed as an Asset of Community Value, and KCC has fully complied with all legal obligations. A lease agreement has been set up so the theatre trust which uses part of the building will be able to stay after the sale.
“Proceeds from the sale will be reinvested into KCC so we can continue providing essential services for Kent residents.”
However, County Councillor for Broadstairs John Finch says he had been working on a solution to protect the theatre and had hoped to issue an update during this past week. In response to requests during the week, KCC’s press office said a new statement had not been signed off at this stage.
Cllr Finch said: “There has been some significant last minute work on this, however we are awaiting communication with a person who possibly doesn’t work full time.
“Until we make contact, we are unable to comment further. This is extremely frustrating for all of us but it’s vital to explore every avenue in attempting to save the theatre.
“Polly Billington stated on her Facebook page that she is now going to save the theatre, she’s had 18 months to try so she’s leaving it a bit late.
“I have been working on a solution to save the theatre for six months and will continue to do so. I haven’t given up on getting the result the town and the community desires.”
Broadstairs district councillor and town mayor Mike Garner said: “Kent County Council’s latest statement on the sale is deeply concerning. To state that it is “the former adult education building” that is for sale is misleading to say the least.
“The building for sale is the Memorial Hall and Pottery. A building that was built by public subscription as a war memorial.
“Many residents, including myself, have written to Cllr Kemkaran, the Leader of Kent County Council, and to our recently elected Councillor John Finch, reminding them of the reasons why the building shouldn’t be sold, including the fact that he pledged to do all he could to make sure the building wasn’t sold. We have all been ignored.
“There is still time for them to do the right thing by the people of the town and withdraw the site from the auction. If this sale goes ahead, responsibility for its loss to the community sits squarely on their shoulders only and they should have the decency to tell us why they are doing it.”
Adult education
Changes to adult education were announced last year under the previous Tory administration. At that time the authority said changes in funding rules from the Department for Education meant a new Adult Skills Fund would no longer be able to subsidise courses for ‘leisure’ such as creative art and crafts and language courses.
At that time the Memorial Hall and Pottery was listed as no longer aligning with the service offer with the alternative being Broadstairs Library to support service provision.
However, most adult education classes were held in the Hilderstone College building in St Peters Road, which is not owned by KCC.
Hilderstone College was originally established as part of KCC’s adult education service in 1970 before becoming an independent college, teaching English to overseas students. It had shared its premises with Kent Adult Education but the building is owned by Hilderstone College.
The auction details for Memorial Hall and Pottery can be found at: https://www.cliveemson.co.uk/properties/262/76/
Disgrace – these Faragistas have no interest in culture or the arts. This theatre has a decent history and puts on interesting stuff. These people are just vandals!
Keith Veness – the clowns at TDC have had enough time to make a bid and sort out – no good leaping up and down as though it’s a sudden decision!
The disposal was put in motion long before Reform took control of KCC. There was a moratorium when the venue was classed as an “asset of community value” to give time for a bid to be presented to keep it as a community asset. None was forthcoming so it’s going.
If you walk past the place, it’s tired and dishevelled, yes it gets used but to what extent?
Refurbishing it for a net zero world is going to be very expensive and if its not then it’ll be nigh on impossible to pay the heating bills.
Councils are skint, there is no money , so Labour will be back in each of their remaining budgets for more and with the likely exception of their last before another general election they’ll be more interested in buying votes from their most favoured recipients, the voters of broadstairs are unlikely to be big labour voters so labour are’nt going to bail it out.
Without doubt a facility lost but one for which there has been no longterm plan to replace once it had deteriorated/ become unsuited to the workd of today.
It won’t be the last. In addition, ramsgate lost the Granville, margate the wintergardens, broadstairs had to have its neck on the block at some point.
It’s such a pitifully small amount that there must be cash in your attic at TDC, to stop this going to auction
Didn’t you say the other day that Broadstairs doesn’t deserve any extra funding?
Let Michael Wheatley Ward ,take over at the Theatre Royal did a grand job before,and would do again .He is a proper theatre person ,not the donkeys at TDC and their cohorts at Your Leisure,they ruin everything they touch.Saw some great shows at Theatre Royal when he was in charge
100% agree.
This is what the Reform and the Conservatives do. They sell off anything and everything they never purchased so it never belonged to those bandits in the first place, just like the right to buy and utility’s sell off. Then they keep the money then boast “ oh look at us we have stayed in the black selling everything off, so the very rich can pay less tax.
Bill – what a bitter ill informed person you are! Labour Government have robbed me as a pensioner who has never claimed benefits in my life and will continue to so until they are ousted
Wrm, no. The government haven’t robb3d you of anything.
The previous government, on the other hand, created a situation in which the richest people in the country became enormously richer, whilst the poorer were driven to food banks just to stay alive
They’re all tea leaves!
Andrew – don’t talk rubbish – food banks to stay alive? Bit too dramatic for me
They got cars then
Probably paying for taxis instead of buying food.