Harlequin Theatre & Cinema

The Harlequin Theatre & Cinema is inaccessible, following the discovery of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in September 2023. 

We understand this is disappointing for many people.

Arts and culture provision

In October 2024 we held five drop-in engagement events across the borough to better understand the needs relating to arts, cultural space and activities. We also welcomed people’s views via an online and paper copy survey.

Thank you to the 160 people who attended the events and to the 600 people who completed a questionnaire. We appreciate your time.

You can view the results from the engagement activities (PDF).

Key feedback included:

• Strong feeling that the Council should fund the provision, although some respondents had the opposite view
• The importance of the Harlequin’s location and the variety of its programme (encompassing professional and community performances)
• Frustration with Council progress, leading to negative perceptions of the Council
• Strong views that Council should move forward with repairing and reopening the Harlequin, with a small number of comments opposing this view
• Strong theme that the Harlequin was a community hub, but mixed views on whether the Harlequin’s cinema should be retained
• An appetite for more professional theatre events, including more ‘big ticket’ acts
• Some people highlighted the negative impact of the current Harlequin closure on the local Redhill economy

We will be inviting previous hirers to engage with us in the coming weeks to revisit their previous requirements and explore the scope to adapt their needs in line with what the interim options may be able to offer.

We continue to actively explore interim options for art and culture provision and as part of that, we are working with a number of potential partners. We are assessing the options using feedback from the recent public engagement events, data about previous Harlequin usage, the ability of each option to host community and / or professional performances and the speed of potential delivery, as well as financial, equalities and environmental considerations.

This will be considered as part of the development of options for a business case, to be presented to the Executive in January 2025, by which time the inspection surveys and reports on the Harlequin building will have been concluded and received. 

Contact

Email: Harlequin@reigate-banstead.gov.uk