A REVIEW of acts performing at a community theatre is to be carried out to secure the venue’s future.

Stanley Town Council is looking at the live shows held at the Civic Hall in Stanley after it emerged over £197,000 a year is needed in subsidies.

Blue comic Chubby Brown, singer Joe McElderry and fighting events such as kickboxing, wrestling and mixed martial arts always prove popular with audiences in the 400-seat capacity theatre.

The Northern Echo: POPULAR: Acts such as Jone McElderry, Chubby Brown and wrestling shows are a hit at Stanley Civic Hall

But some of the tribute acts and plays staged in the hall’s Alun Armstrong Theatre have only sold a handful of tickets by comparison.

Council leader Councillor David Marshall said: “We need to have a budget set for each show, and they will have to manage within that budget.

“It will create efficiency savings which we can pass out into the community. We want to continue to be able to support local theatre groups. There is a real benefit to that.”

The Civic Hall costs a total of £397,000 a year to run and brings in around £200,000 from rental of rooms to community groups as well as profits from the bar.

Stanley Town Council has said the hall’s coffee shop, which costs £39,000 to run, is also under review as it is not making a profit.

The building, formerly the Lamplight Arts Centre, was taken over from Durham County Council in 2013 to rescue it from closure.

Coun Marshall has said consultation will be carried out to try to find what sort of shows would attract members of the community to the Civic Hall to give it a new lease of life.

Councillor Jeanette Stephenson, chairman of the Finance Governance Committee, who is also a Durham County Councillor, said: “We’re going to balance the budget and look at our events.

“We’ve identified which are making money and which are making significant losses.

“We want to continue with ones like the wrestling and fighting events, which make the most money on the bar because people come in and have a really good night.”