Dame Judi Dench 'horrified' by theatre sale plan

James Bond star Dame Judi Dench says she has been left "horrified" by plans to sell a theatre to the highest bidder.

Broadstairs Memorial Hall is set to go under the hammer on Thursday, with bids for the property opening on Wednesday.

The building, in Broadstairs, Kent, is home to the Sarah Thorne Theatre company and has a guide price of £350,000.

Reform-controlled Kent County Council said it had "acted to safeguard" the theatre company by agreeing a five-year lease for it to stay in the building.

It said it was obliged to sell the property as it no longer used it and "no viable proposals" to run it had been submitted.

Dame Judi, who won an Oscar for her role as Elizabeth I in 1998's Shakespeare in Love, is a patron of the Sarah Thorne Theatre community interest company.

She said: "I was horrified to hear that the freehold of the building that houses the Sarah Thorne Theatre has been put up for auction by Kent County Council.

"I understand that Michael Wheatley-Ward has a lease for five years, but this sale would obviously put the future of the theatre in jeopardy.

"It would be a tremendous loss to the local community and every effort should be made to secure its future."

Mr Wheatley-Ward, the theatre company's founder and director, said he believed a sell-off would be "sad".

"I want to ensure the Sarah Thorne Theatre has a stable and secure home," he said.

"My preferred option has always been to move the theatre to a charitable trust, leaving the Sarah Thorne Theatre company to operate the site."

Labour's Polly Billington, MP for East Thanet, said performance spaces needed to be "treasured and preserved, not flogged off".

Kent council deputy leader Brian Collins said it was "disappointing" enough interest or investment had not been found to support the theatre.

Community groups, the authority said, had had 18 months to develop proposals to run the facilities.

"KCC [Kent County Council] is therefore now obliged by law to take steps to sell the building because it no longer uses it and no viable proposals were put forward from the community," it said.

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