A much-loved theatre which has been closed for more than two years may now be refurbished and reopen by 2029, after a £3.3m loan was agreed.
Yeovil Town councillors voted on Wednesday evening to take out the borrowing towards the redevelopment of the Octagon Theatre.
It had been looking to ask local people to pay more council tax to cover the loan repayments, but instead councillors agreed to look at alternative funding streams to pay it back.
A public consultation over the summerfound a slim majority were in favour of the refurbishment – but against their bills going up.
Yeovil Town Council said it hoped the theatre would now reopen between 2028 and 2029.
The theatre originallyclosed in May 2023for a planned year-long £30m rebuild.
But that wasput on hold inOctober 2023, before any work had begun, when Somerset Council decided the original business case was no longer affordable.
The council said this was due to interest rates rising four-fold, from 1.5% when the business case was approved to around 5.6% by October 2023.
The original business case looked to expand the theatre’s main auditorium from 622 to 900 seats as well as improving accessibility front-of-house and backstage, and raising the stage house roof to allow bigger touring theatre companies to use the premises.
Scaled-down, revised £15m planswere brought forward in August 2024 which include some elements of the original plan but would see the same number of seats kept in a refurbished auditorium.
The original business case included £10m of funding earmarked by Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
The town council now hopes to apply for that cash towards the revised project.
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