Owners of St Helens Theatre Royal set out refurbishment plans

The venue on Corporation Street is set to see refurbishments made to its building following Regal Entertainments Ltd becoming the new owners last year.

The company has managed the day-to-day running of the theatre for more than 22 years and have since taken over ownership from the Theatre Royal Charitable Trust.

The much-loved St Helens theatre, which is currently showing the Cinderella Pantomime, will see changes to its interior.

Arms of the theatre seats have already been replaced.

The arms of the seats have all been replaced (Image: Conal Cunningham)

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Chantelle Nolan, director and manager of St Helens Theatre Royal, said: "Now that we’ve bought the freehold, everything to do with the theatre belongs to the company and then in turn is our responsibility to keep it up to standards and refurbish any areas that need refurbishing.

"We collect at the end of the show because the Theatre Royal Trust still stands and they’ve got a charitable status, so they still fundraise for the theatre.

"At the minute, we’re collecting to have the theatre seats reupholstered because a lot of them have worn over the years.

The theatre seats will be next to be replaced (Image: Conal Cunningham)

"We’ve currently refurbished all the arms on all the seats; we’ve had timber arms made, had them specially designed and made to fit the chairs, and varnished them.

"We’ve replaced them all throughout this year in sections and now they’re all done; they’re also wipeable so we can go down and disinfect each one."

The company is still raising money to reupholster the seats and replace the carpet with a more durable floor.

The original carpets will remain in the centre of the theatre, however, Regal Entertainment Ltd is hoping to install vinyl flooring in the seating area to improve the comfort and experience for spectators.

The aisle will remain carpeted whilst the seating area will see vinyl flooring installed (Image: Conal Cunningham)

Chantelle added: "The public do give very generously to us at the end of the show. It’s an old building and there’s always something that needs doing, so if they keep giving as generously as they do, the theatre will be here for a lot longer, so we’re really thankful for that.

"We’d like to thank the public of St Helens as they always give so generously, and they support the theatre all year round; we’re just really pleased they still come to us especially during these hard times."