Watermans closure “the only viable option” for Hounslow Arts Trust, says Ruth Cadbury

© John Angerson 150826 Them Design – Watermans Arts Centre, Brentford, London.

Image above: Watermans arts centre, Brentford; graphic design John Angerson

Decision made to stop pouring money into a black hole

The announcement in March that Watermans arts centre in Brentford was to close this month has shocked local residents, some of whom had been going there for forty years.

READ ALSO: Watermans arts centre in Brentford closes

The riverside venue in Brentford has served the population of west London for decades with live theatre, dance and music, a cinema and restaurant, and a gallery for contemporary art shows, but a combination of rising running costs and falling revenue have meant it has recently been running at a substantial loss.

Hounslow Arts Trust, which runs Watermans, has opted to carry on providing community arts events at several locations in the borough, including outdoor events at Bell Square in Hounslow town centre, rather than pouring money into the bottomless black hole of the riverside building, while they wait to hear what is happening with the redevelopment plans which were meant to deliver a transfer to a new arts centre.

Image above: Adam Shailes, President of the Chamber of Commerce in Brentford, who runs the Red Routemaster company

Anger at meeting about lack of consultation

At a meeting on Thursday (28 March) on Watermans organised by Brentford Friends Facebook page, there were angry criticisms of LB Hounslow and the trust which runs Watermans for not consulting the public about it.

Adam Shailes, the President of the Chamber of Commerce in Brentford, who runs the Red Routemaster company, said:

“We will fight hard against the closure now. We will relaunch Watermans as a Brentford community asset and we will hold those at local council level and officer level accountable for their actions to damage our town if they do not help us to achieve this and reverse this very ill-thought-out decision.”

He asked why the public should trust the council when they say the opening of the new planned arts centre is still going ahead.

“We can’t wait eight or ten years for a new facility and even then the spirit of Watermans will have been totally and utterly lost,” he said.

Image above: Ruth Cadbury MP

“It is very sad. I’ve been going there since I used to take my children when they were small, 20 years ago” – Ruth Cadbury MP

Brentford & Isleworth MP Ruth Cadbury was at the meeting. Ruth has been the MP for the area for three terms and before that was a Hounslow councillor for nearly 30 years, representing wards in Brentford where she lives for 17 years.

She was for a period a member of the Hounslow Arts Trust, and she has spoken to the director of Watermans Jan Lennox and other current trustees about the decision.

She spoke to The Chiswick Calendar about her thoughts and feelings on the closure of Watermans.

“It is very sad” she told us. “I’ve been going there since I used to take my children when they were small, 20 years ago.”

Explaining the background to the decision, she said that as part of the development of Brentford town centre there is supposed to be a mixed development on two sites – the current Watermans site and the old police station site – by developer London Green.

Image above: Albany Riverside development CGI; London Green

The Watermans site is set to become a residential only development, ‘Albany Riverside’, with 193 flats in five blocks with views over the river and towards Kew Gardens.

The old police station site is due to be redeveloped as a mix of affordable housing and a new arts centre with a larger theatre, two cinemas with a gallery for film festivals, and space for a café/restaurant.

Image above: Old police station redevelopment CHI; London Green

It is not a case of a sharp developer getting one over on the Council, she said, going ahead with the more lucrative project while ditching the less profitable one. The riverside development is very much contingent on the building of the new arts centre:

“The riverside part of the development can’t go ahead until the Hounslow arts centre has reopened in its new site. But planning permission was granted before construction costs went through the roof.”

The project was discussed at last November’s Cabinet meeting, where concerns about inflation, increased material costs, supply chain and labour shortages were discussed, and it was red flagged as a project whose future was in doubt.

READ ALSO: Future of Watermans arts centre uncertain

“The economic situation has changed drastically” – Cllr Tom Bruce

Cllr Tom Bruce

Cllr Tom Bruce, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Development, told The Chiswick Calendar then:

“The economic situation has changed drastically: increases in material and labour costs, and rises in inflation, interest rates and land values have made delivery much harder…

“The council and the trust have been working very hard with the owner of the old police station to bring forward a viable scheme, and while I cannot give a time frame, our aim is still to have a new arts centre building delivered in conjunction with new homes.

“I remain optimistic that this will happen.”

Image above: Watermans

New arts centre now on hold indefinitely

Because of the change in the property market, which no one foresaw, says Ruth, the project is now on hold indefinitely.

“Nobody’s said the development won’t go ahead” she says, but the question is, how long will it be before it does?

Too long, the Hounslow Arts Trust decided, for them to carry on haemorrhaging money while they wait.

“If you look at the Companies House records for Hounslow Arts Trust, they were operating at something like a £400,000 loss in 2022-23. Their big bills went from something like £49,000 to £125,000.

“Going into Covid they were financially vibrant. Ticket sales provided over 75% their income. Grants from Hounslow and national grants were less than 25%. Since then, grants have flatlined, bills have shot up and ticket sales have decreased, so the costs outweigh their income.”

Keeping the building open “unsustainable” but possible ‘Meanwhile’ use on the cards

Hounslow Arts Trust has provided live music, theatre, dance, films and art exhibitions at Watermans, but it also provides community arts events in the more deprived areas of the borough where there is low engagement with the arts otherwise.

They have opted to carry on providing those events, saving money by not paying for the building, until such time as they can open in new premises.

“If they can stay solvent, they can keep that community stuff going” said Ruth. “It’s the only way to keep Hounslow Arts Trust solvent and delivering arts to the community.

“What’s deeply sad is that Watermans has to close.”

At the public meeting organised by the Brentford Friends Facebook group, people were discussing the idea of exploring a ‘Meanwhile’ use for the arts.

“I believe the Council is not averse to that idea”, said Ruth. “It’s a possibility.”

But anyone who tries to use it meanwhile will soon discover the enormous costs associated with keeping it heated and lit, a building whose roof leaks and which is gently crumbling into the river.

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