19 May 2023
Fifty-five years after its doors first opened, the Alban Arena remains the biggest entertainment venue in the St Albans district – but is it still able to deliver the goods?
One of a selection of new civic buildings constructed in the 1950s and ’60s, City Hall – as the Arena was then known – was completed in 1968.
Along with other contemporary premises like Forrester House in St Peter’s Street and the now-demolished police station, City Hall was designed by architect Sir Frederick Gibberd in the Modernist style, and built from brick with a flat roof, metal windows and horizontal lines.
The building was supposed to represent a 1930s cruise liner, with the glass corners hovering over two small areas of water as if at sea, balconies representing decks, big windows and a flagpole on the roof.
Beneath the wooden floor is a 3rd century Roman mosaic discovered during excavations of the site in 1931, and rarely exposed to the public.
Over the years it has hosted the likes of Morecambe and Wise, Sir Cliff Richard, Motorhead, Status Quo, Sir Andre Previn and Ricky Gervais, but the first production was Orpheus in the Underworld by the St Albans Operatic Society, now the St Albans Musical Theatre Company.
The name ‘Alban Arena’ was adopted when the venue reopened following a £1.3m refurbishment in 1990-1991 following a competition to rename it. Not long afterwards IRA terrorists Patricia Black and Frankie Ryan were killed when a bomb intended for the Blues and Royals military band, who were playing at the Arena, detonated prematurely in the doorway of a nearby bank.
In November 2021, SADC announced plans to demolish the Arena and replace it with a new entertainment venue as part of the CCOS (City Centre Opportunity Site) North project, following discussions with a group of key stakeholders including representatives from the Civic Society, OVO theatre company and the University of Herts business school.
At the time, Cllr Robert Donald said: “The Alban Arena has served the district well since the late 1960s but it has been evident for some years that it is in need of a major refurbishment if not a rebuild.
“It cannot, for example, stage some major touring productions as it does not have modern back-stage facilities and is not fit for purpose in terms of the number of seats or flexibility it can provide.
“The stakeholder consultative group, including representatives of local businesses and community organisations, has considered various options to create this new cultural offer.
“They have recommended that the best way forward is to create a completely new theatre in a different position on the site rather than refurbish the existing theatre which will cost a lot and still not provide what is really needed.”
By last June the project had moved on to the point where a cultural strategy was to be developed to determine what arts facilities were needed in the district, and community consultation and communication on whether to refurbish the Arena or demolish it and rebuild it elsewhere on the site.
There would also be an analysis of the environmental carbon impact of either scheme.
In a bid to balance this year’s council budget, CCOS North became one of several major capital projects to be placed on hiatus, with a view to restarting the scheme in the next couple of years once the economic situation improves.
While we wait for the financial winds to change, the St Albans Times spoke to stakeholder group member Adam Nichols, founder and artistic director of OVO, to find out more about the reasons why demolition and rebuilding was recommended as the preferred option for the Alban Arena.
“In 2020 I produced a version of Peter Pan at the Alban Arena to replace that year’s pantomime, and before it was cancelled due to the Covid Christmas, we had issues as a theatre company with the venue itself.
“It has a very outdated configuration and is restricted in how it can be used. The Proscenium Arch raised stage can only be used in one way, the auditorium is in difficult straight lines with seats at the side offering a very poor view.
“Most theatres built in the last 20 years allow for a three-sided configuration, but at the Arena you can’t create the right relationship between the stage and the audience – it’s hard to move in and out of the stage and access itself is limited.
“There is a small loading door so you cannot roll in sets from trucks in the street, something many touring shows do.
“The feel of the place is also soulless – it feels like a municipal building. I actually like the architecture, but there is a lack of atmosphere.
“Backstage the facilities are very poor and not accessible from a disability perspective.
“It is also a strange size [the Arena caters for 856 seated, 1,400 standing] so it is rarely full. With more flexibility, perhaps 4-500 seats and an adjacent smaller space, this could be opened up when required, such as for the pantomime.
“But ultimately there’s nothing you can do to improve the Arena without a massive reconfiguration as it is very much of its time, and we felt this would not be a god use of the public asset.”
He suggested that the Arena’s communal areas were wasted, and should be open for community use during the daytime.
“This is valuable city centre real estate but is only open 5-10 per cent of the time.”
Adam, who once acted as an advisor to Prime Ministers David Cameron and Gordon Brown, stressed that the membership of the stakeholder group was completely transparent throughout the process, and nobody was in any capacity whereby they may have taken advantage of a business development opportunity.
He laughed off social media suggestions that members were carpetbaggers who were paid for their contributions.
“The Liberal Democrats’ pockets would have had to have been very deep!
“In fact, there was a great deal of frustration last year when the scheme did not move forwards, and the stakeholders were constantly challenging the Lib Dems on delivery.
“However, we hadn’t reached the stage of public consultation. There had been very robust discussions, and we were looking into things like the environmental impact.
“The costs of refurbishment were certainly going to be higher than knocking it down and rebuilding, and we had reached the stage where we were comparing the impact of demolition with redevelopment when Liz Truss happened.”
Although any Alban Arena project is now on pause, Adam is conscious of the bigger picture when it is finally possible to move forwards again.
“What was lacking was a discussion of a wider strategy around arts and culture. Most major touring shows won’t
come to St Albans because we’re only half an hour from the West End, and Milton Keynes tends to be the nearest venue to take them, so we shouldn’t duplicate what they’re doing.
“Ultimately we will need to ask what the Arena is for, and that is a broader conversation. SADC needs to get away from doing everything itself, and look for partners within the private sector.
“It also needs to run sustainably. SADC is fixated on the build and design, but how will it be funded and run? The answer to that question has to be incorporated into the design.”
On the other side of the argument is St Albans Civic Society, which has stated it is favour of retaining and refurbishing the venue.
A Facebook group Save St Albans City Hall (The Alban Arena) was set up in November 2021, but its remit seems to have expanded over time to encompass anti-Lib Dem rhetoric along the same lines as sister group St Albans Voice.
Admin David Kaloczi said at the time of launching the page: “The City Hall/Alban Arena has served our city well for the last 50+ years. Discos, banquets, balls, concerts, gang shows, parties, book sales, wrestling, auctions, pantos, beer festivals and cinema to name just a few of the many events this versitle building has hosted.
“All I’m hearing other than the obvious maintenance issues is that the behind stage area is not big enough for modern theatre. This building is not just a theatre!
Surely an extension along with a refurbishment/upgrade would be the best most sustainable way forward?”
For the time being, the future of the Alban Arena remains a story which has paused at the interval… The curtain will inevitably rise on the second act, the only question is: when?
Historical details based on research by Penny Thei and Diana Brimblecombe.
