A historic Newcastle building threatened by closure has been handed £130,000 by the North East mayor’s office, in a bid to help secure its future.
The Common Room was awarded a grant from the North East Combined Authority (NECA) shortly before Christmas, having warned last year that it was struggling to stay open. The project revived the North of England Mining Institute’s old home at Neville Hall, close to Newcastle’s Central Station, through a multi-million pound restoration of the 19th century building following decades of decline.
That Heritage Lottery Fund-backed scheme saw the grade II* listed building reopen in 2021 as a stunning heritage venue and archive capable of hosting weddings, conferences and cultural events. But its bosses had to make calls for financial support to keep it running last year, having struggled after opening for commercial trading into a post-pandemic cost of living crisis.
The Common Room’s most recent accounts show that it owed Newcastle City Council more than £720,000 and the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), which has since been rolled into NECA, a further £1.6 million in loan repayments as of the end of June 2023. It is hoped that the £130,000 grant signed off by NECA chief executive Henry Kippin on December 20 will give the charity more time to put itself on a more solid financial footing.
Former CEO Liz Mayes warned a year ago that the “clock is ticking” on the building’s ability to remain open, before an online fundraising campaign was launched. Ms Mayes stepped down last March amid a major restructure of the organisation that involved multiple redundancies.
But Matt Boyle, chair of The Common Room’s board of trustees, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service on Tuesday that he was “certainly” more confident in the venue’s future than 12 months ago. He said the charity was now “looking at all sorts of options” to secure its future, after 2024’s reorganisation and bringing in industry experts for advice.
Mr Boyle added: “The NECA money allows us the runway to progress the changes which are getting brought forward and to get the business on a far more sustainable level.”
Half of NECA’s grant is subject to “satisfactory progress being made by the charity towards achieving additional funding and/or potential merger/partnership with another charity to help secure its future and repay existing loans”. The combined authority, which came into existence last May after the election of Kim McGuinness as the region’s mayor, said that the latest public funding for The Common Room would support its bosses in “developing options for its future operation”.
Ms McGuinness and other regional mayors were recently joined at the Common Room by deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, when the building hosted the first meeting of the Government’s mayoral council. A NECA spokesperson said: “The North East LEP lent money to The Common Room for the Great North in 2019 to help with the redevelopment of Neville Hall. This loan was secured against the building. This loan is now being managed by the North East Combined Authority, who continue to have regular discussions with The Common Room for the North, alongside colleagues from the Newcastle City Council, about the repayment of the loan. The grant provided in December 2024 by the North East Combined Authority is to assist The Common Room for the Great North in developing options for its future operation.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands that Newcastle City Council recently agreed a two-year repayment holiday on the money it is owed by The Common Room, as a result of the venue’s financial difficulties.
A council spokesperson said: “The council lent money to the Mining Institute in 2013/14 to fund their purchase and redevelopment of Neville Hall. This loan was transferred to The Common Room of the Great North when they acquired the building that the loan was secured against. We continue to have regular discussions with The Common Room, alongside colleagues from the North East Combined Authority, about the repayment of the council’s loan.”
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