Spilsby Sessions House
How Theatres Trust's support is helping a community revitalise its local theatre
Town halls, corn exchanges, churches, a whole range of historic buildings have been converted into theatres. These venues are just as important to Theatres Trust as purpose-built theatres because they are just as important to their local communities.
Spilsby Sessions House in Lincolnshire became a theatre in 1984, converted from a former sessions house (a type of courthouse) and gaol dating back to 1827. The holding cells are now used as dressing rooms.
The theatre’s auditorium was forced to close in 2015 due to deterioration of the auditorium’s roof and ceiling, making it unsafe to use. We added Spilsby Sessions House to our Theatres at Risk Register at this point to raise the profile of this unique theatre and its plight.
In 2016 a group of volunteers came together with the ambition of taking over the operation and ownership of the building and developing a vibrant and viable programme from the other parts of the building. We’ve been providing support to this group, Spilsby Sessions House Ltd, ever since, including guidance on taking over ownership of the theatre from the previous owner in 2022.
We part-funded an economic impact assessment through our Theatres at Risk Capacity Building Programme, which indicated that a revitalised theatre could generate approximately £500k per year in additional visitor spending to its local area and an additional £80k in employment.
Since then, the project to restore and reopen the theatre has made positive progress, securing funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund, Architectural Heritage Fund and being a key project in East Lindsey District Council’s successful Levelling Up Fund bid. We fully supported the planning and listed building consent applications that were approved in July 2025.
Theatres Trust has been supporting Spilsby Sessions House while the capital project progresses, helping the group to look ahead to what will be needed to successfully operate the building when it reopens. This has included a grant, Skills Bank support and cohort training on business planning and fundraising, all funded through our Resilient Theatres: Resilient Communities programme. The fundraising support was instrumental in helping to secure a £1.06m grant from Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Capital Fund.
It is currently hoped that building works will complete and that the theatre will be reopened for live performance in 2027, to coincide with the building’s 200th anniversary.
This case study was produced as part of our Fifty@50 campaign to mark our 50th anniversary in 2026.
Photo credit: Ian Grundy