£3m bill to finish refurb of Eastbourne venue

Winter garden in Eastbourne- where the works continue (Photo by Jon Rigby) SUS-190702-100953008

The Winter Garden has been closed since 2017 as part of the redevelopment of the Devonshire Quarter, which has seen the Congress Theatre renovated, the construction of the new Welcome Building, a new plaza and landscaping and improved tennis facilities within the park itself.

The refurbishment of the 140-year-old Winter Garden, a listed building, was always the final part of the multi-million pound refurbishment of the area and now council officials are looking to spend £3 million on – amongst other things – improving the kitchen, refurbishing the toilets, extending the bars, giving a facelift to the front entrance and facia, a lift and recarpeting and decorating in part of the Floral Hall.

Eastbourne council’s tourism boss Phil Evans said completion of the priority works will increase income not just for the Winter Garden but for the entire complex.

He said, “The appeal of the Winter Garden has always been its capacity. There is no other venue in Eastbourne that can cater for more than 250 guests in one sit down venue.

“The Winter Garden capacity is comfortably 500 or 750 without a dance floor. Up to 1,800 people can be accommodated if it is used as a live music venue.

“The primary benefit of realising the priority works however is to attract larger conferences and conventions utilising the entire site. At present, conference organisers will only be attracted to a facility that can combine a lecture hall, a dining space and exhibition space and this is currently limited to around 300 delegates using the Welcome Building. If we can provide a flexible space through utilisation of the Floral Hall in the Winter Garden we can go up to around 1,200 delegates.

“We anticipate we can achieve maximum capacity of 1,500 delegates by utilising the Congress Theatre, Welcome Building and the Winter Garden for a single event with options on using the Towner and other Devonshire Quarter facilities for break out space if needed.

“If the Winter Garden remains closed there are no opportunities to increase income.”