PLANS to expand an historic town centre theatre from a 200 to 300 capacity at a cost of more than £1m have been made public.

The 18th Century, Grade II-listed Georgian Theatre in Green Dragon Yard in Stockton is primarily used as a music venue and the plan is expand into the adjacent Stockton Borough Council-owned Courtyard Hotel.

The council, the building's owners, has budgeted £1m in its medium financial plan for the expansion and improvement the music charity, Tees Music Alliance (TMA), who run the venue, are planning in partnership with the council to make a joint bid for further grant funding.

A planning application can be viewed on the council's website today (Friday) which will outline plans for more toilets, more bar space, a daytime bar and cafe. The theatre will also open for longer hours if the plans are approved and all the money is found.

Paul Burns, TMA's director, who explained the organisation had run the venue since 1993, said: “Although not very rock and roll, having the correct amount of toilets is one of the factors determining the capacity of a music venue; and ours are currently limiting the number of people we can admit to events.

"In turn, this means that some of the artists we’d like to bring to Stockton are just beyond our reach because of the current venue capacity.

“Anyone who has attended one of our sell out shows will also have their own story to tell about trying to get served at our tiny bar; so adding more serving space and operating during the daytime will really make a difference and will go a long way to generating much needed income to keep this lovely old building running for many years to come."

If granted planning permission, the redevelopment of the ground and first floors of the Courtyard Hotel is expected to start in the spring of 2016. Anyone interested in finding out more about the redevelopment proposals are invited to a drop-in session at The Georgian Theatre between 3pm and 7pm on Monday, November 23.

The Georgian Theatre opened in 1766 and is one of the oldest Georgian theatres in the country along with Norwich and Bath, However, the oldest Georgian theatre in its original working form is the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond, North Yorkshire. The Stockton theatre was once a sweet factory and was empty for a number of years until the council opened it a community building in 1980.