ST MARY'S: 110 BOOKINGS TO BREAK EVEN

The restored seafront church is being relaunched by the council as a hall for hire and the target needs to be met so it does not run over budget.

The council's cabinet agreed on Monday to pay 48,900 for the venue to be open for hire, on top of 36,500 already spent on maintenance.

That makes a total of 85,000 of taxpayers money.

Councillors also appointed arts development officer, Penny Precious, as manager. She will be backed by two part-time workers.

A new price structure has been drawn up for the venue, with discounts for community groups and charities.

Hiring the whole building for one day will cost 800 for commercial organisations and 500 for non-profit making groups.

However, that does not include VAT, technical support for lighting and sound, as well as stewards and rehearsal costs. For a commercial organisation that could see the total cost rising above 1,100.

Marigold Chamberlain, from Hastings Philharmonic Choir, said those prices were above what was charged when Fosmic (Friends of St Mary-in-the-Castle) ran the venue and could put off many organisations.

She said: "They won't get many takers from the community with those sort of prices.

"We will use St Mary's for our Christmas concert because it is the only venue in town of that size but it is quite a lot more than we would expect to pay.

"We may have to look at other venues for next year's concerts."

David Henty, from Shades Theatre Group, said he thought the prices were reasonable and would consider hiring the venue in the future.

Cllr Jay Kramer said she thought St Mary's would generate enough interest after getting 27 provisional bookings already.

She said: "I'm confident St Mary-in-the-Castle will be a highly sought-after venue and we will be marketing it through this year's Coastal Currents arts festival."

A longer-term business plan is now being worked on.

It should be completed by the end of the financial year but will take until autumn next year to be put into action.

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