In short:
- Woolwich Works was given a £2 million, 15-year loan from Greenwich Council in 2022
- The first quarterly repayment - of £45,454 was due this June
- But the deadline for repayment has now been extended from 2037 to 2052
- The trust's repayments have now been cut to £19,230 each quarter
The trust that runs Woolwich Works has been given 15 more years to repay a £2 million council loan that bailed out the arts venue four years ago.
Greenwich Council leader Anthony Okereke authorised the payment to the Woolwich Creative District Trust in July 2022, despite concerns from Labour councillors, who raised concerns about how the interest-free loan would be monitored.
The council spent £45 million on fitting out and setting up Woolwich Works and other buildings in the Royal Arsenal so they could be used by organisations such as the immersive theatre company Punchdrunk. The project went £14 million over the budget publicised by Okereke’s predecessor, Danny Thorpe.
But attendances at the venue, which opened in September 2021 amid the fallout from the pandemic, were disappointing, while its programming and poor promotion were also criticised. The trust lost £1.4 million in its first year.
It later emerged that Woolwich Works’ business plan had been based around the Elizabeth Line already being open and providing easy access to the Arsenal from Canary Wharf and central London, even though the first trains did not run until the following May.
The £2 million from the council was needed to keep the venue afloat and to deal with maintenance issues: boiler problems meant the building initially cost £1 million to run each year.
Most of the loan was drawn down within a year and a second payment of £300,000 from a council spin-off company, GS Plus – which was later accounted for as “sponsorship” – came the following year. The GS Plus cash does not need to be paid back, but the loan does.
The trust was initially given until March 2037 to pay off the £2 million debt in 44 quarterly instalments, with the first £45,454 payment due this June.
But the deadline has now been extended until March 2052 – cutting each payment to £19,230.
The trust’s annual accounts, filed at Companies House, said the change was made to align with its lease on the building. “As a result, the burden of payments is greatly reduced from summer 2026 to a more manageable figure,” it said.
Both the building’s boilers had been replaced along with the building management system, the accounts reported, leading to “stability in the heating and hot water for the first time since opening”.
Denise Hyland, the council’s outgoing cabinet member for finance, resources and social value, championed the project when she was council leader between 2014 and 2018.
She told The Greenwich Wire: “Woolwich Works has won critical plaudits, and commercial success has started to follow with it turning a profit last year.
“The council agreed to provide a loan in 2022 to the independent charitable trust operating the venue in order to help it establish itself and to help sustain it in the early stages of operation. Following a request by the trust, in autumn last year the council made an operational decision, in line with its constitution, to extend the repayment period of the loan from ten years to 25.
“This brings the repayment period in line with the length of the lease that the trust has on the buildings and must still be repaid. The loan agreement has been subject to rigorous and ongoing scrutiny and officers continue to closely monitor the trust and review progress made against its business plan.”
A Woolwich Works spokesperson said: “We agreed with the council to adjust the repayment terms of the loan from the Royal Borough of Greenwich to mirror the length of the lease. We continue to be grateful to the council for its support of Woolwich Works during its difficult opening period, and ongoing collaboration in helping the venue to the success it now enjoys.”
The trust is now in better shape under Nick Williams, the director who took charge in 2023, and made a profit of £24,064 in the 12 months to March last year. It also recorded donations of £504,315 – compared with £12,878 in the previous year – after Williams said there had been a “substantial donation” that had secured its future for the next two years. The identity of the donor has never been disclosed, but Williams said it was not the council.
The trust is now co-chaired by Sally Manser and Clive Ahmed after one of the original trustees, Ben Howarth, stepped down as chair last year. The council is represented by two Labour councillors, Asli Mohammed and Dave Sullivan.
Steve Sayer, the senior vice-president and general manager of the O2, became a trustee in August 2024. Woolwich Works had announced that Karl Whiteman of Berkeley Homes, which owns the freehold to the Royal Arsenal, was also joining the board, but the spokesperson said that “ultimately he was not able to fulfil this”.
An immersive art show, Luminarium: Myriad, is coming to Woolwich Works this Easter, with tickets on sale now.
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