A SECRET shortlist of names put forward for a �17million publicly-funded performing arts centre can today be revealed by the EADT.

Laurence Cawley

A SECRET shortlist of names put forward for a �17million publicly-funded performing arts centre can today be revealed by the EADT.

Last month St Edmundsbury Borough Council announced it planned to call the public venue in the Arc shopping centre The Apex.

The name immediately met with a mixed response, with some claiming it was a good and marketable brand name and others labelling it “dull” and “bland”.

The full list of names shortlisted by the council's consultants Poulsen Selleck - who were paid �30,000 for brand development on the public venue - has been a tightly guarded secret by the authority, which initially declined to reveal the nine names considered before The Apex was chosen.

Following a Freedon of Information request lodged with the council last month, those names have now been released.

The other names considered were The Exchange, The Hive, The Magna, The Magnet, The Core, The Hub, The Pen and the The New Chapter (House).

Sarah Green, chairman of the Bury Society, said it was interesting to see what the shortlisted of names was but added none of them jumped out at her as significantly better than The Apex.

She said: “The society was not surprised they chose The Apex because the shopping centre is called Arc. The Apex is what it will be called and we now have to look forward rather than backwards.”

Simon Harding, who had criticised the council's choice of name and complained about what he claimed was a lack of public consultation over the naming of the venue, said the list was “very disappointing” and said all the suggested names were “bland”. He said: “There appears to have been minimal consultation on this. They are all very bland.”

In his response to the EADT's Freedom of Information request, Nick Wells, the council's festival and entertainments manager, said the council looked at 15 names in January and an attempt was made to whittle those down to just three.

“However at the end of this meeting Poulsen Selleck were tasked with revisiting the naming brief, and refining the list of names, to include some existing names but to also bring in some new names for consideration,” he said. This left the council with a shortlist of nine names to choose from.

The new building will be opened next summer.