Doomed venue and market rebuilds years away

1 hour ago

Federica BedendoNorth East and Cumbria

News image — "Team Barrow" said the Forum and Market Hall are expected to be rebuilt in 2035

Team Barrow An artist's impression of how a temporary events venue and market will look like in Barrow, where work to demolish and rebuild The Forum and market is under way. It includes containers, huts and stalls of different colours and a gazebo-type cover. It is a line drawing in pastel-coloured pencil showing no major detail. It looks like a temporary market in a town square. — "Team Barrow" said the Forum and Market Hall are expected to be rebuilt in 2035

A theatre venue and market hall facing imminent demolition will take nine years to be replaced with permanent structures, according to a new timeline issued by the group tasked with the redevelopment.

The Forum and Market Hall in Barrow, Cumbria, were shut in 2024 over issues with asbestos and subsequently doomed to be bulldozed.

Team Barrow, the name taken by the group working on regeneration plans for the town, has confirmed demolition is expected to start in 2028, with any rebuild unlikely to be completed before 2035.

In the meantime, it promised a "large event space" and a new market village to replace the temporary one currently in use.

Team Barrow said the event space would be "like those found at Edinburgh Fringe", however the group has yet to explain what it means by that.

The festivals that run every August in the Scottish capital utilise existing theatres, lecture halls, event spaces, bars and temporary venues which dwarf anything that has ever been available in Barrow.

Theatre groups in the town have complained about a lack of detailed plans on a replacement for the 530-seater Forum, with Walney Musical Theatre Society's chairman John Edwards calling the wait for news "sad" and "frustrating".

Jennie Dennett The Forum in Barrow, a large modern building of red brick and some wood cladding at roof level, with a mainly glass entrance foyer and containing a market and theatre. Signs above its glass doors read 'arts and entertainment', 'theatre', 'cafe and bar', and 'market hall'. The building closed in 2024. — The building housing The Forum and Market Hall closed in 2024 and is going to be knocked down

Initial artist impressions released by Team Barrow show structures such as containers and canopies sitting alongside outdoor market stalls in the town.

The group said these would be rolled out from 2027, together with a refurbishment of public spaces around the town hall.

It would form part of the first phase of a regeneration led by Westmorland and Furness Council, with the initial work slated to cost £22.9m.

The Lib Dem council's strategic director for communities Angela Jones said: "Transforming a town centre takes time and it will be delivered in phases over the next decade, beginning with this initial investment."

Consultation events on a masterplan for Barrow will start in October, but dates and venues have yet to be confirmed.

Team Barrow said demolition of the Forum and Market Hall will not begin before those events take place.

In a statement, the group said enabling works were due to start towards the end of this year and, subject to planning, demolition would begin by early 2028.

Construction would then start by early 2029, Team Barrow said, with the full scheme complete by 2035.

Additional reporting by Simon Page, North East and Cumbria

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