Grand Theatre set for £8.5m renovation

Wolverhampton's Grand Theatre is set to undergo repair and maintenance work worth around £8.5m, the city council has said.

An emergency decision was made by City of Wolverhampton Council to appoint AHR Architects Ltd as the contractors for the work on the 132-year-old building, after surveys revealed defects.

The building is owned by the local authority but run on a 99-year lease by the theatre's board.

Council leader Stephen Simkins said he also believed the theatre should be classified as a heritage site, calling it "a real piece of history of Wolverhampton".

Details revealed in council papers showed the local authority commissioned a building condition survey in 2025, together with further detailed surveys, which identified "building condition items that needed rectification".

A cabinet meeting on 14 October heard that the council and theatre trust had put together a £5m bid to the Creative Foundation Fund in the hopes it would contribute towards the cost of the works.

The work could be phased over three years, documents outlined, and while the Grand Theatre Trust was liable for fixtures and fittings, the council had full liability for all building maintenance.

It means that without external funding, the council would be liable for the full cost of the project.

"I think you'd expect a property of that age is going to need some money spending on it," deputy leader of the council Steve Evans said.

"We all fully support the Grand Theatre, the excellent productions they put on, the many decades they've served customers and families, and we look forward to another at least 132 years."

Simkins said the theatre was iconic and "like an old friend", adding that Prime Minister David Lloyd George had given a speech on its stage in 1919.

"As a responsible landlord, we will invest by whatever means we can to make sure that continues," Simkins concluded.

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