DON’T board up our theatre!

That was the plea today from campaigners battling to save Felixstowe’s Spa Pavilion and who believe if it closes, it will never re-open.

Owners Suffolk Coastal council will this month launch a fresh drive to market the 900-seater venue to find a company or organisation willing to take it over and either run it as a theatre or a different type of seaside attraction.

Community group the Spa Pavilion Associates (SPA) confirmed today that it is preparing a fresh bid along the same lines as the group which has successfully taken over Waveney council’s Marina Theatre.

Lisa Hardy, of SPA, said the group’s plans were now well advanced and it was meeting with council officials this week to discuss the latest situation and how to move forward.

“We are still working on the new bid and we are hoping that with the difference in the process this time that we are going to be able to communicate with the council, whereas before we could not,” she said.

“We are hoping that by being able to have open dialogue with the council that we will be able to keep the theatre and the building open in a way which satisfies their objectives, their requirements, and their hopes for Felixstowe.

“We just want to see it resolved quickly.

“We cannot let the theatre be boarded up. If it closes and is boarded up, I don’t think it will reopen again.

“There will be so much work needed, even after a few months to deal with any deterioration and bring it back up to standard, that I don’t think it would be possible.”

Suffolk Coastal says audiences have been falling to a degree that each ticket is being subsidised by the council by more than �7 and the theatre needs to be run more cost effectively.