Woolwich Works is likely to turn a profit for the first time this financial year, its boss has said – two years after Greenwich Council bailed out the cultural hub with a £2 million loan.
But the improved financial situation has been helped by a mystery “substantial donation” that has helped secure its future for the next two years, its accounts have revealed.
Corporate events and healthy crowds for live events also helped boost the once-troubled venue’s fortunes, councillors heard last week.
Nick Williams, the director, would not share who had made the donation when questioned at a scrutiny panel meeting last Thursday, but said it had not come from the council.
The venue, which opened in 2021, has previously had to receive council help that included a £300,000 sponsorship deal with a town hall-owned company. While its base in the Royal Arsenal was built and fitted out by Greenwich Council, Woolwich Works is run by an independent charity.
But accounts filed by the Woolwich Creative District Trust before Christmas revealed that while the business lost £415,000 in the 12 months to March last year, the vast majority of this sum was lost in the first three months, before Williams’ arrival in August 2023.
Asked about the finances by Conservative councillor Charlie Davis, Williams said: “We are projecting a small surplus this financial year. I’m not going to go into detail but there is a small surplus projected in the accounts.
“From there, I hope we can build a long-term viable model because we have to build our financial resilience for the future. As a new organisation there’s no safety cushion at all so we have to build that up so we can weather future storms well.
“We are on a good trajectory and I hope that we can make that surplus as a start and then build.”
But the accounts also revealed that the trust had “received a pledge of a significant donation to be paid over the next two year” in August last year, which would enable it to develop a “long-term stable operating model”.
This meant that the trustees had a “reasonable expectation” that the future of the trust was secure, it added.
Williams said the donation had not come from the council – only cash from its festivals fund for specific events.
“None of it’s come from the borough of Greenwich,” he said, “The money from Greenwich came from its festival fund for Brassworks and the summer programme.
“We are seeking to diversify our income to spread risk and make sure that we have a stable financial basis,” Williams said.
“I’m not at liberty to go into detail about what that financial support is, but it is complex and multi-sourced. It has been a major focus of mine to ensure that we gain stability, but it is not Greenwich Council money.”
The trust announced two new trustees last year – Berkeley Homes boss Karl Whiteman and the O2’s senior vice-president, Steve Sayer. Berkeley, which owns the freehold to Woolwich Works, had paid £38,000 to sponsor summer events in 2023.
Williams said that the Royal Shakespeare Company, English National Opera and Strictly Come Dancing had used Woolwich Works for rehearsal space. Commercial income had grown by 52 per cent in two years – with 2,500 people attending the Nike Wellness festival in March.
Commercial work was “our major income stream”, he said. “We are seeing very strong repeat business with clients in now their third year. The Blue Earth summit booked again immediately after their successful event in October.
“Coca-Cola have been in three times in the past 12 months, the NHS awards dinner has come back twice in a row, Cancer Research have been back three times.
“We have smaller charities that have events for 100 or 200 people that find it’s at a price that suits their needs and it’s very easy to get to – who else has two ferries?
The Brassworks festival in September, which included a parade through Woolwich, had attracted 4,000 people, Williams said. “It’s what we’re aiming for – noisy, lively, busy and entertaining,” he said, adding that it would return this year.
An opera about the departure from Woolwich of Arsenal Football Club would also feature in the autumn, he added.
The final element of Woolwich Works to open, a recording studio, had also opened, Williams had said, with 41 of the 20 projects using the facility coming from the borough.
Woolwich Works had a rocky start when it opened in 2021, the same year it was revealed that Greenwich Council had spent £45 million on the project – £14 million more than it had told residents it would cost.
The venue struggled for audiences amid the pandemic and was offered £2 million in council loans the following year, after the departure of its founding chief executive. In 2023 The Greenwich Wire revealed that a further £300,000 had been paid via a secret “sponsorship” deal with GS Plus, a council-owned facilities company.
The annual report admitted the existence of the GS Plus sponsorship for the first time, referring to it as a “local business” and stating that the company gets space for conferences and an allocation of tickets in return for the cash. Councillors on the culture scrutiny panel also referred to it for the first time; two years ago they were explicitly told not to mention it.
The scrutiny panel also heard from the immersive theatre company Punchdrunk, which is based in buildings opposite the Woolwich Works venue and moved in as part of the creative district project.
Georgia Figgis, its community and creative engagement manager, said Punchdrunk “had found a home and a community” in Woolwich.
Lucy Whitby, Punchdrunk’s co-executive producer, said: “We have a lease that lasts until 2027, but we’d love to stay longer.”
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