The Tramshed theatre in Woolwich is to have a £200,000 loan written off by Greenwich Council to help secure the theatre of the troubled arts venue, which reopened two years ago after a major refurbishment.
Tramshed has been a part of Woolwich life since 1971, but a council document published on Monday revealed that it is facing an “extremely challenging” situation because it is struggling to attract funding.
Greenwich agreed to lend Tramshed up to £200,000 in July last year on condition that a recovery plan was put in place and that its accounts were shared with the council. The first £125,000 was paid that summer.
But a review conducted last month found that the recovery plan would be “challenging to realise in the immediate term”, with Tramshed’s bosses asking if the remaining £75,000 could be released.
Now council leader Anthony Okereke has agreed to convert the £200,000 loan to a grant to give Tramshed “some breathing space to roll out its recovery plan effectively, reduce its overheads and generate investment to balance its books”.
“The Council recognises that Tramshed’s current short-term position is extremely challenging,” the report says. “The short-term cash flow is positive, but the midterm stability remains a concern despite the council’s encouragement and support to become more commercial and diversify its income streams.”
Converting the loan to a grant would also help Tramshed obtain grants, the report said.
The Tramshed venue was known for comedy and music in the 1980s, but for more than half a century it was the home of the Greenwich and Lewisham Young People’s Theatre, which renamed itself after the theatre five years ago. It is the second arts venue in Woolwich to hit financial trouble after the £45 million Woolwich Works was bailed out with a £2 million council loan in August 2022, just 11 months after it opened.
Last year a further £300,000 was diverted from a council-owned company, GS Plus, to Woolwich Works as part of a “sponsorship” agreement. The council refused to discuss the matter when The Greenwich Wire revealed the agreement in September, but the existence of the deal and its value was confirmed in GS Plus’s accounts, which were published two months ago.
While Greenwich has less riding on Tramshed, its problems are a headache for the £115 million project to build a new leisure centre next door, which is due to open in the autumn. The Tramshed building – which has a 153-seat theatre and three studios – was refurbished as part of the project, and will be integrated into the new centre when it opens.
Tramshed will have access to two more studios and a community space when the leisure centre opens. But the terms of its agreement with the council means that it cannot charge community groups for using these spaces – something the report admits is “impacting the organisation’s ability to diversify its income streams”.
“The council will continue to support Tramshed to explore strategic opportunities to engage in broader commercial conversations with partners to assist with securing the long-term outcomes and income,” the report says.
“The grant facility will help ensure that Tramshed is able to enact their recovery plan to get back on a firm financial footing so that this important cultural facility, embedded in the community, can be enjoyed by future generations,” it adds.
“Tramshed would be in a stronger position to explore partnerships with comparable organisations, and the chair is planning to undertake a full skills audit of its board.”
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