Good to see the Barbican reopened and without the need for the £800,000 taxpayers subsidy which was the root cause of its closure 6 years ago.
Now the private sector has taken over its management and the first couple of concerts have been well attended.
Unfortunately The Press are already publishing letters which seek to rewrite the buildings history.
The Barbican complex never broke even following Labours decision in the 80’s to spend £12 million on building it. There was never a business plan in place which exploited its potential for conferences and much of the time it was under-used.
By 2000, the swimming pool (built in the 1970’s) needed a minimum of £3 million spending on it while the auditorium needed substantial modernisation works to meet new health and safety legislation. At that time the then Labour administration, decided to sell with the possibility that the swimming pool might be rebuilt as part of a redevelopment of the whole site.
There was little interest from developers with only one consortium promising to continue to stage concerts in the auditorium (using a company called Absolute Leisure which had nightclub interests in parts of the North East).
The consortium (Barbican Venture) became the preferred bidder for the site.
The wheels came off the project when first legal hurdles and then planning delays could not be overcome quickly. Absolute Leisure went bankrupt in 2007 and the process of finding someone to run the centre had to start again.
Fortunately in 2009 SMG – who had grown quickly to become a big player in the concert tour industry – expressed an interest in running the Centre. Later they were to invest £2 million in refurbishing the venue.
But, like it or not, one way or another the Barbican would have been closed for most of the last 6 years what ever decisions the council had taken.
Now it has a chance to benefit the local economy although, with many peoples disposable incomes very stretched, some anxious eyes may turn to the fortunes of competitors who cater for a similar market in the City (such at the two theatres).
