Groundlings Theatre in Portsmouth is sold to an investor - leaving actors homeless

Richard Stride said he had been ‘frustrated’ by delays and said the sale was agreed so that much-needed repairs could be carried out as soon as possible.

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But the Groundlings Theatre Trust has accused him of reneging on the arrangement which had been pivotal in the success of a Community Ownership Fund bid earlier this year and called for the sale to be cancelled.

The Kent Street building was built in 1784 to house the former Beneficial School and was bought by actor Mr Stride and converted into a theatre in 2010 after several years of disuse.

Five years later a structural survey, carried out in conjunction with Historic England, found a series of issues with the condition of the roof and windows.

The building is on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register and it is also included in the Theatres’ Trust Theatres at Risk database.

The charitable trust said it would cost more than £1m to repair but grant funding to cover this has been difficult to secure because it is in private ownership and only leased until 2030.

Planning permission has already been granted by Portsmouth City Council for the work to take place and it had been hoped that the £156,000 awarded by the government in March would allow trustees to buy the building.

It had previously been listed for sale for £1m.

But legal difficulties in agreeing the purchase due to the use of online property auction company I am Sold meant a bid was not submitted until last week.

A few days later the trust was told it had been outbid and discussions were held with the council to secure extra funding. This was agreed but the trust was told a deal with the investor had already been finalised.

‘We were pleased the government approved our bid to buy the building, which would immediately kick-start the renovation of this grade II* listed building, keep the theatre running in the ownership of local people and providing the Portsmouth community with a place to watch and practice the arts,’ it said in a statement. ‘However, we have been informed the landlord has rejected our offer, abandoning the agreement he had to sell the building to the trust and keeping it running as a theatre.’

In response, the trust has launched a petition calling for the sale to be cancelled and its bid accepted instead to allow ‘exciting’ plans for its future to progress.

The petition says community ownership would secure the future of the theatre while a private sale puts it in jeopardy. They said it was still possible for Mr Stride to pull out but he denied this.

The petition can be found at: change.org/Keep_Groundlings_Community_Owned

Their concerns have been echoed by Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan and the leader of the council, Steve Pitt, who, as cabinet member for culture, helped arrange council funding during the pandemic.

‘I have heard from trustees and share their concerns about this latest disappointing development,’ Mr Morgan said. ‘They have my full support in their efforts to purchase the building for public benefit.’

Cllr Pitt said it was ‘a tremendous shame’ that a sale to the trust had not been agreed.

‘There was an opportunity for the trust to acquire the building and take over an important community theatre,’ he said. ‘It’s hugely disappointing that that’s not going to happen as I still think that’s the best outcome.’

He said this was not helped by ‘uncertainty’ around the buyer and what their intentions might be.

But Mr Stride said the lease and planning protections meant it could not be converted into flats and that the investor had ‘positive intentions’.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he said he had gone through ‘three years of hell’ since deciding to give up the theatre and return to acting.

‘I agreed to sell the building to the trustees for peanuts but they didn’t even inform me they had received the grant until several weeks later so that they could squeeze a bit more money out of me for repairs,’ he said.

‘I have been keen to get rid of it because I simply can’t afford the cost of repairs. I’ve waited months for the trust and it’s been delay after delay so I put it on the open market and the sale was agreed in less than two weeks.

‘There is no way to go back on the sale now that it has been agreed.’