HISTORY

The first brick of the then Bognor Regis Centre was laid on 13th June 1977 by HRH Princess Alexandra.It was built to replace the Esplanade Theatre (opposite the Royal Norfolk Hotel) and the Theatre Royal which stood on this site. The Centre opened on March 11th 1980.It then comprised a 384 seat theatre, 550 seat multi-purpose hall, seaward facing cafeteria, large public bar and meeting rooms. The Centre was run initially run by Arun District Council. Due to the cost of running the venue, in 1991 Arun District Council closed the Centre and the responsibility was passed to Bognor Regis Town Council. The Council ran it for three years before closing the building. It lay empty for a year until it was decided to lease the site to Whitbread. So in 1996 the building was divided. Whitbread converted the seaward end containing the Hall and Café, leaving the Theatre in the other half. After a local campaign the Council persuaded Whitbread to grant a lease to a charitable trust (Arun Arts Co Ltd). In December 1996 the Trust re-opened the Theatre as the Watershed. Because Whitbread would not allow a bar on the premises the existing bar was turned into a dance studio and redundant toilets into further meeting rooms. A new café was installed in the foyer. The Watershed ran till 1998 when the Management got into financial difficulties and the Theatre was faced with closure again. A new group of trustees was formed who were able to keep the Centre running. The Theatre was returned to its original name The Alexandra Theatre. The auditorium was refurbished and the Centre continued to run until 2002 when, due to a large amount of debt being incurred, it was closed once more. New trustees were again appointed but the debts were crippling and in 2005 the Theatre closed and went into liquidation. Fortunately financial backing was found and the debts paid off. In January 2006 the current trustees took possession of the Centre with the lease intact. Major refurbishment took place and it was renamed the Hotham Arts Centre with the Alexandra Theatre. An agreement was reached with Whitbread to reinstate a bar The café was relocated and a gallery was created in the foyer. Since then the Centre as gone from strength to strength putting on many productions including Bognor's first professional pantomime for over 11 years!