The Coronet Theatre was dark when its director Richard Littman gave me a mid-morning tour. The gloom was temporary, because the building would shine brightly for an event held that night. But unless something changes radically, the lights will soon go out for good. Littman is fighting closure, but describes his chances of success as “slim”.
As a businessman, he sees why: “They could put a Marks and Spencer in a quarter of our space and charge four times as much rent. If money talks, what would you do?” But as leader of the Save The Coronet campaign he is trying to persuade the powers behind the redevelopment of Elephant and Castle that the Coronet can be part of the Elephant’s future as well as its past: “I’m all for regeneration. I think the area needs it. We want to merge in with it. Surely it’s worth their while looking at the venue’s history and what it could become.”
The Coronet building has occupied its space on New Kent Road since 1879, beginning life as the Elephant and Castle Theatre. The young Charlie Chaplin is believed to have performed there (a pub next door is named after him). The building was converted to a cinema in 1932, and its architecture reflects that period. It became the Coronet in 1986, but closed in 1999. Four years later it was reborn as a multi-purpose, music-orientated venue. Today, it is primarily a clubbers’ joint, though Littman stresses the variety of events it hosts and the range of audience it has served.
“We hold charity events, gay nights, boxing nights, Latin nights, all sorts” he says. “I love the fact that Tom Jones performed here in March.” Mumford and Sons, Tinie Tempah and Justin Timberlake also form part of the recent roll call. Littmann and his team have produced a vision for a new Coronet incarnation, which would see its art deco features enhanced and reclaimed, including by removing the stick-on blue metal facade attached in 1967.
A supportive Theatres Trust has placed the building on its at risk register and the Green Party’s Darren Johnson, a big live music fan, has lent his support to the Trust’s application for the theatre to be listed by English Heritage. Local MP Simon Hughes has weighed in on Littman’s side. But what he needs most of all is a change of heart by property developer Delancey, the backing of Labour-run Southwark Council and the sort of intervention by Boris Johnson that spared the Ministry of Sound.
None of these have been forthcoming so far. Delancey, which is already constructing residential properties at the edge of where the Heygate estate no longer stands, also owns the adjacent Coronet site and the Elephant shopping centre. Both would be devoured by a new, expanded retail complex with flats on top. Littman says that Delancey claims that if the Coronet stays, the financial numbers won’t add up. He hopes council leader Peter John can be persuaded by his case, but has found John’s administration pretty impervious so far. A meeting with one of mayoral culture adviser Munira Mirza’s team was encouraging, but Littman says it was made clear to him by others during his visit that the Coronet is not a large consideration in the wider context of Mayor Johnson’s ambitions.
If that changed, so would everything else. The Mayor’s planning powers mean he can pretty much oblige Southwark to take a stance on the Coronet that’s to his liking. A planning application has yet to be submitted. What influence might the mayor bring to bear?
Last month, the London SE1 website revealed that in September he lobbied English Heritage to reject the Theatres Trust’s listing application because it might impede the opportunity to expunge the Elephant shopping centre - described as a “1960s eyesore” - and could obstruct the wider regeneration scheme. Yet a member of his culture team had contacted English Heritage two months earlier to assert that there “is a case to be made” for listing the building and describing it as “thriving” and as performing “a valid social and cultural purpose, not only for the local community but for London as a whole.” And a Peoples’ Question Time question time in Waltham Forest last month, the mayor, whilst claiming to have no knowledge of the Coronet, described Mirza as “totally obsessed” with the issue of protecting music venues and stressed the value of London’s “music and cultural capital.” He promised to “see what we can do to help.”
So maybe there is a glimmer of hope. Littman has set aside £2m to contribute to any refurbishment in the event of the Coronet’s survival. He’s been running the place since 2011 and is proud that he’s managed to build it up and make it profitable. His case is that another new phase in the building’s history can help enable continuity and change to be reconciled to the benefit of Elephant and Castle as whole.
He envisages a future Coronet hosting the BBC Concert Orchestra’s Friday Night Is Music Night shows, as its sister venue, the Mermaid in Blackfriars, currently does. Conferences could be held there too and the Chaplin connection fully embraced. But Littman also wants to hold on to what the Coronet already has. “There’s a massive Latin American community here. Where are they all going to go?” He makes the same point about the shopping centre, with its noted Mamuska Polish cafe, popular top floor bingo hall and forecourt open market. Can a place for them and their patrons be found in the new Elephant grand design?
There are ironies here. The “eyesore” shopping centre, whose low prices, independent traders and cultural mix are prized by opponents of the regeneration scheme, is the product of an earlier attempt to upgrade the Elephant. Now it is demeaned as a symbol of failure, an prime example of urban grime. Perhaps some see the Coronet in the same way. But if the new Elephant and Castle is to make its transition without destroying much that is valuable about it now, the Coronet could surely have a part to play.
