Harlequin Theatre & Cinema

The Council is currently working to bring The Harlequin Theatre back into use since its closure in September 2023 following the discovery of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

In June 2025, after significant exploratory work and a detailed review of options, the Council’s Executive agreed a way forward – to remove the RAAC and undertake other essential works to reopen the theatre at its previous capacity of just under 500 seats.

We are currently procuring for a contractor with the ambition to re-open the theatre in early 2027.

Historically the theatre was run in-house by the Council. Whilst work to the theatre building moves forward, we are exploring whether going forward, the theatre is run by a third-party operator.

We recently sought expressions of interest from experienced and innovative operators to take over the management and running of The Harlequin Theatre and / or a second arts and cultural venue in central Redhill in Unit 5 of The Rise.

This is reflects our commitment to expanding our arts and cultural offer in the area.

Following careful consideration of the submissions we have decided to proceed with a procurement process to seek to appoint a single operator to lead and manage both venues. We believe this approach offers the best opportunity for long-term success, improved resident and customer benefit, and stronger financial management.

We have been in touch with interested parties to update them and provide details of how to take part in the formal procurement process to appoint an operator.

Community use - including community-led programming and activity - must remain central to the operation of both venues. We will be encouraging the future operator to work with local community providers to support the diversity of genres and to support community as well as commercial programming at the venues.

We will keep these pages updated with developments.