Kings Head Theatre Islington - moving to new theatre space

[n1david]

Big news in Islington as the Kings Head is moving on from its pub origins into a new custom-built space in the Islington Square development in the former Post Office behind Upper Street.

Two new theatre spaces, a 250-seat auditorium (bigger than its current 110-seater) and an 85-seat studio. Ready for Autumn 2018.

This sounds like good news, a brand new theatre facility in Islington - the Kings Head has been doing some more adventurous programming under its new AD Adam Spreadbury-Maher and this gives them an opportunity to grow a bit. Hoping that the new theatre is well enough designed and not a St James-style auditorium...

In the meantime the theatre is moving to the John Salt, a pub just up the road from the current Kings Head, so it seems that there has been some serious falling-out between the pub and the theatre. The website isn't clear when they move to their interim base.

www.kingsheadtheatre.com/future

[joem]

Well good luck to them. Shame in a way. but if it's for the best....

[d'James]

Yes I'm quite sad it'll be moving from the pub.

[bellboard27]

Article from the ES:
www.standard.co.uk/goingout/theatre/kings-head-theatre-is-moving-from-the-pub-to-a-new-home-in-400m-development-a3602171.html

[Jan]

Intriguing that they are moving to a temporary space - maybe the pub is being developed and they want more space for food sales. The pub has been going downhill since they stopped pricing in pounds, shillings and pence a few years ago. There have been a few new theatres built as part of new housing developments - box ticking by the developer to get planning permission - sometimes these have never actually been brought into real use because there has been no money to fund their actual operation, co-opting an existing company seems like a good idea.

[d'James]

Aug 3, 2017 10:24:54 GMT @theatremonkey said:

Aug 3, 2017 8:17:24 GMT Jan said:

maybe the pub is being developed and they want more space for food sales

The current theatre is becoming a dining room, yes.

I think that's a shame. I wonder if the pub will get any money from the new spaces or has it always been a very separate business? I'll be intrigued to see how they can make a new space as quirky as the one it's replacing.

[n1david]

The theatre has always been very clear that it's a business independent of the pub, and they get no revenue from pub sales, so I'm assuming that with the move to the new space they are cutting the ties completely. The fact that they're having to move to the John Salt temporarily suggests that there may have been a falling-out.

[Someone in a tree]

Hopefully the new venue will provide a healthy competition to what has sprung in Southwark over the last 10 ish years

[Deleted]

This brand new theatre was built on Islington Green as part of a new development about 10 years ago and never opened. It's still there boarded up. Such a waste. www.czwg.com/works/collins-theatre

[d'James]

Aug 3, 2017 15:17:05 GMT @frontrowdress said:

This brand new theatre was built on Islington Green as part of a new development about 10 years ago and never opened. It's still there boarded up. Such a waste. www.czwg.com/works/collins-theatre

I remember reading about that and looked forward to going there. Shame to read nothing's happened.

[n1david]

Aug 3, 2017 15:17:05 GMT @frontrowdress said:

This brand new theatre was built on Islington Green as part of a new development about 10 years ago and never opened. It's still there boarded up. Such a waste. www.czwg.com/works/collins-theatre

Every so often I do a bit of Googling to see if I can find out what's happening with that site. I've seen occasional one-off events in the space but the Collins Theatre Trust appears to have been Dissolved so it's anybody's guess what happens with it now.

These seem to be the best pictures giving a sense of the interior: www.localityonline.com/location/reference/2051

[Deleted]

Thanks David, I've never seen the interior shots before. It looks incredible and could be so fantastic if it was finished. It's right in the middle of Islington FGS, if you can't make a small theatre work there, what hope is there?

[bellboard27]

A little article looking back over the history of the theatre:
www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/heritage/it-moved-boundaries-47-years-of-king-s-head-theatre-pub-in-upper-street-1-5135943

[n1david]

Some images of the planned new Kings Head Theatre here - the move-in date now seems to be some time in 2020 rather than Autumn 2018 as originally quoted... islingtontribune.com/article/vision-for-the-new-kings-head-theatre-is-revealed

Also interesting is that the planning permission for the temporary space at the John Salt has been submitted, but the Council has recommended that they apply for a permanent permission as the KH needs to raise a lot of money to get into their new space and the Council wants to hedge even if the theatre doesn't...

[d'James]

The plans remind me of The Park Theatre. What happened to that underground theatre in Islington?

[Deleted]

There's an art installation currently in what I think is the unused underground theatre -

www.artangel.org.uk/project/an-occupation-of-loss/

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/apr/18/taryn-simon-occupation-loss-review-islington-green-london-underground-mourners-grief

[n1david]

Apr 24, 2018 0:14:39 GMT d'James said:

The plans remind me of The Park Theatre. What happened to that underground theatre in Islington?

Still no sign of the Collins Theatre opening, as @xanderl says there's an art event in there at the moment, and I see it being used for occasional one-off music events, but The Collins Theatre Trust has been wound up.

Islington Council put together an analysis of the viability of the theatre in 2015, which concluded that it would be viable with three theatre spaces (and which reveals that the Donmar considered the space for their Shakespeare Trilogy), but that suggests theatre delivery in Autumn 2017 which has obviously been and gone with no visible development work... planning.islington.gov.uk/NorthgatePublicDocs/00370904.pdf

[n1david]

Potential life for the Collins Theatre, although it all seems a bit vague;
www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/collins-theatre-400-seater-underground-venue-islington-green-finally-open-1-5657302

Meanwhile chatting to staff at the KH, was told that they only have a year’s lease at their new premises in Islington Square, which doesn’t seem very long to prove themselves in two new spaces.

[joem]

Aug 18, 2018 9:06:00 GMT n1david said:

Potential life for the Collins Theatre, although it all seems a bit vague;
www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/collins-theatre-400-seater-underground-venue-islington-green-finally-open-1-5657302

Meanwhile chatting to staff at the KH, was told that they only have a year’s lease at their new premises in Islington Square, which doesn’t seem very long to prove themselves in two new spaces.

What a story! It looks like a wonderful space. Isn't it typical though that they allowed the flats to be sold without the venue opening?

[Deleted]

That is interesting and sadly typical of this sort of planning condition!

The plans were initially signed off in 2002 and included building 72 flats to pay for the theatre.

I suspect it's more likely that the flats came first and the theatre was a condition of getting planning permission

Conditions attached to the original approval stated that no more than 85 per cent of the flats could be sold until the theatre work had started and that £2.17m must be spent on the theatre project – for the shell and the fitting out – within six months. If the latter did not happen, the developers were to pay the council the difference within a year

So there are 72 flats in the middle of Islington, lets say they sold for £500K each, that's £36million, and the developers have to either spend £2.17million on the theatre or just pay a maximum of £2.17million to the council. What could possibly go wrong!

But then ...

But developer Frasers Islington ran into complications fitting out the theatre. Eventually planning permission was sought, and approved, allowing all of the flats to be sold before the completion of the venue.

OK, so they didn't even have to repay the £2.17million due to "complications". 

Prediction - the plan to finally open the theatre gets cancelled after complaints about potential noise from people who bought flats above the theatre. A bit like those people who bought fancy flats next to Tate Modern then complained that their flats were next to Tate Modern.

[joem]

Aug 21, 2018 6:01:37 GMT @xanderl said:

That is interesting and sadly typical of this sort of planning condition!

The plans were initially signed off in 2002 and included building 72 flats to pay for the theatre.

I suspect it's more likely that the flats came first and the theatre was a condition of getting planning permission

Conditions attached to the original approval stated that no more than 85 per cent of the flats could be sold until the theatre work had started and that £2.17m must be spent on the theatre project – for the shell and the fitting out – within six months. If the latter did not happen, the developers were to pay the council the difference within a year

So there are 72 flats in the middle of Islington, lets say they sold for £500K each, that's £36million, and the developers have to either spend £2.17million on the theatre or just pay a maximum of £2.17million to the council. What could possibly go wrong!

But then ...

But developer Frasers Islington ran into complications fitting out the theatre. Eventually planning permission was sought, and approved, allowing all of the flats to be sold before the completion of the venue.

OK, so they didn't even have to repay the £2.17million due to "complications". 

Prediction - the plan to finally open the theatre gets cancelled after complaints about potential noise from people who bought flats above the theatre. A bit like those people who bought fancy flats next to Tate Modern then complained that their flats were next to Tate Modern.

Solution. Use it as UK's first permanent mime theatre.

[n1david]

Collins Theatre looks as far away as ever: www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/collins-theatre-plans-to-reopen-400-seater-underground-venue-beneath-islington-green-under-threat-1-6223435

Meanwhile, the Kings Head remains stubbornly in its original home. The Islington Square development starts opening next month, wonder if there will be more news then?

[n1david]

Kings Head hopes to celebrate its 50th birthday in December in its new space:
www.standard.co.uk/go/london/music/kings-head-theatre-new-site-50th-anniversary-a4347581.html

[Deleted]

The new development this is part of is now open - had a nosey around it on my last visit to the Almeida a couple of weeks ago. Currently just a few high-end shops but looks like it will have restaurants etc as well once things are complete.

[n1david]

The new Kings Head epic trundles on. I first posted in 2017 that the new space would be ready for "autumn 2018".

Chatted to Mark Ravenhill (now sole AD there) last night and he's now expecting a move around Easter 2023.