Latest news from Victoria Street

[KeefyM]

Fair enough, thank you, Andrew and thank you, James, although, rather interestingly and worryingly it seems some Front of House staff and a member of the management team have been told/have heard things differently from Andrew as I'm only reporting what these people said on Saturday evening. After all, we all know the VP will be redeveloped at some point (as confirmed in Andrews message, just that he says there are no fixed dates), and also there are various articles/links on the web confirming the redevelopment, including an artists impression of what a redeveloped VP will look like http://www.standard.co.uk/news/12m-rede ... 84453.html

Whether that is 2014/15/16/17 or even 2020, the simple fact is it will be redeveloped at some point whether Billy fans like it or not and some plan will have to be made about how this may or may not affect BETM.
I can't imagine the show remaining in the theatre as no other show has ever remained in a West End Theatre while it was extensively redeveloped and has either moved to somewhere else, closed or gone on tour.
I'm sorry to say, but, the VP does need redeveloped and given a few licks of paint/stone cleaning the outside, especially with all these new buildings going up around it, otherwise it will look even more sorry for itself / abandoned / and completely out of place than it does now.

Interestingly, on the Engineers Plans for the redevelopment of the area which are on the outside of the Portacabins they are working from in-front of the main Victoria Station entrance, there is a numbered list with dates and a timeline for demolition/redevelopment of the Victoria area, saying things such as "Demolition of Elliot House - commencing 2012". At No.32 on the list it says: "Redevelopment of Victoria Palace Theatre - Commencing 2014/2015 (TBC)". Obviously the TBC confirms Andrews no fixed dates.

Anyway, great map David, showing the area with the businesses in the red boundary that have closed down and have been/are due to be demolished.
Didn't realise the Thistle Westminster Hotel had closed down. It is a great loss for those who want to stay locally in the area or close to the VP, but there are plenty other hotels about, and to be honest, the Thistle is no great loss since it was a horrible 1960's concrete monstrosity of a building and needed demolished.

Cheers
Keefy

[StevenKing]

My guess is they are waiting till they MUST leave(ie when tunneling is done) and that just isn't known for certain. Makes no sense to leave till the government kicks them out, keeps the downtime to a minimum. So the 2014 timeframe would be the earliest time. But we all know how these things can get delayed, but at some point they need to shore up parts of the building that might be effected by the underground work. I'm personally hoping for an after 10 anv date .

[StevenKing]

Once they know a date I'm sure a lot of number crunching will be done on open theaters costs etc etc. Till then even they can't know.

[LiamM]

"Demolition of Elliot House - commencing 2012". At No.32 on the list it says: "Redevelopment of Victoria Palace Theatre - Commencing 2014/2015 (TBC)"

For the sake of clarity: Does "Elliot House" have anything to do with Billy or does it just share the name by coincidence?

[ERinVA]

I think you know the answer to that: Coincidence.

[Wowzell]

In that report on standard.co.uk, it states

The project will not start until at least 2015.

It seems a rather definite statement, so fingers crossed no major BETM changes until then!

[johnnyc]

Didn't realise the Thistle Westminster Hotel had closed down. It is a great loss for those who want to stay locally in the area or close to the VP, but there are plenty other hotels about, and to be honest, the Thistle is no great loss since it was a horrible 1960's concrete monstrosity of a building and needed demolished.

The real monstrosities in the area are the recent glass structures on Bressenden Place at the entrance to the Cardinal Place mall (where Marks and Spencer is located), and at the intersection of Wilton and Vauxhall Bridge Roads, across Victoria Street from the front of the VPT. If whatever is to be built in the torn down area from Buckingham Palace Road to the VPT follows that same type of horrible modern British architecture, then the Thistle Westminster likely will be remembered as a classic. I believe that Prince Charles had some not very flattering things to say about contemporary trends in British architecture in a speech he delivered to the Royal Institute of Architects in 2009. Of course, HRH is not an architect, but his well known leanings toward more classic designs infuriated the members of the Institute.

[ERinVA]

I'm with Keefy on this one. The Thistle Westminster was exceedingly ugly.

[johnnyc]

I'm with Keefy on this one. The Thistle Westminster was exceedingly ugly.

It's all in the eye of the beholder. To my eye, that hotel was....well.... just there. It's claim to fame is that it was where Colin Bates and his family stayed when he did his final performance as Billy Elliot. And they all spent some time in the bar at my hotel, just across the road.

[patc]

This is the latest video of the demolition and works around the VPT taken last Thursday 24th January 2013.

http://youtu.be/4j-X6tShsO8

Pat