Greenwich Council seeking Mayoral help with Woolwich Works
Greenwich Council are seeking help from the Mayor with the struggling Woolwich Works venue.
The venue has already seen a £2 million emergency loan given which saw £1.8 million quickly drawn down. Greenwich Council’s leader blamed central government last week for problems, though a number of other major issues are also impacting the building.
The full council meeting heard (at the 1hr 12 mins mark) council leader Cllr Anthony Okereke say in response to Conservative leader Cllr Matt Hartley that they are building partnerships and raised meetings with the Mayor.
A written reply also highlighted that the mayor is being asked for support.
Issues
One issue heard at a previous Scrutiny Panel meeting are high costs to operate, with a previous council meeting hearing that part of the venue isn’t always suitable for its intended purpose of holding live events. How that wasn’t picked up before work carried out is odd.
Others included basic errors such as failing to capture bar revenue during private events. Advertising and simple elements such as building signage have been extremely poor from day one.
There’s also the ongoing sheer lack of events. While the live sector undoubtedly has difficulties, a glance at other venues across London and other UK cities often shows a far stronger mix of events, both in terms of number and choice.
A glance at Woolwich Works’ website for a long time has shown the line up to be extremely lacking. People are just going to lose the habit of checking if so little is ever on.
No venue will succeed with such basic issues including a paltry line-up of events. Other venues in London and beyond are still managing to get the basics right.
They used to blame the Elizabeth line being delayed. Well now it’s been open since May 2022 that excuse seems on the backburner.
Changes
The venue does now have a new Director who previously worked at Perth Theatre and Concert Hall in Scotland. A number of Christmas events have now been revealed.
Hopefully that offers a jolt in the arm for the beleaguered venue which can go from strength to strength.
That’ll be in everyone’s benefit, from local residents with events to enjoy, performers with a place to put on work and the public who have seen so much council funding invested in the space.
There needs to be events every day.
Someone needs to invest in upgrading the venue so it can put on louder contemporary music. Some of us locals want to support the venue but there’s barely anything on to support!
With regard to financial issues the buck stops witb Greenwich Council as millions of council tax money has been invested in the project.
Woolwich Works needs more signage around Woolwich Town Centre giving directions to the venue.
They need more events held ideally on a daily basis.
Showcasing local talent and more well known artist and events at the venue including live music events.
During the day they could put on events for children and businesses etc.
So much more can be done at Woolwich Works to make the venue a place people want to visit and spend an evening there..
Woolwich Works needs to get people through the doors to survive as does any business.
The fact that they KEEP flogging this dead horse at the detriment of other opportunities is doing my nut in. They’ve already had £2m of council taxes and syphoned £300k “sponsorship” from their private janitorial company and it’s still failing on the basics. For me the issue is simple – they don’t know how to get themselves on the music/comedy circuit. Knowing how to put on arts events is a completely different skillset to putting on commercially viable stuff and they need two different promoters, so one can concentrate on income streams to support the other. The longer they try to do both, the more money is going to be haemorrhaged.
I’ve also heard rumours that the soundproofing isn’t good enough to placate the posh flats in the surrounding area – and if that’s the case, they are utterly, utterly f***ed.
Agree 100% Murky. I’m one who has stopped checking in on their programme as the trend of mediocre and niche listings has not, despite all warnings, been addressed or challenged. I want to see it flourish but they cant continue to burn through the millions. Sadly, I think we will see the plug pulled and the venue repurposed before too long, which will be a great shame for the area and a lost opportunity.