THE future of the Brewhouse Theatre in Taunton is looking brighter after a new 50-year lease was agreed for the building.

The Taunton Theatre Association (TTA) runs the venue near the River Tone in Taunton town centre, leasing the building from Somerset Council.

Following the announcement that the council would withdraw all subsidy for the venue by April 2025, the TTA has been working with the local authority and the recently-created Taunton Town Council to secure its future.

The new lease will take effect in April 2026 and will be accompanied by a new subsidy from the town council’s precept, which will be agreed two months before this date.

The new repairing and insuring lease will mean the TTA will be responsible for repairs and maintenance required to the building from April 2026 – with the lease running until the mid-2070s.

A spokesman for Somerset Council said: “We previously took responsibility for some building repairs and insurance of the building, which is no longer possible.

“The TTA is not having to pay the council large sums of money, but will have to meet their own building expenses under the new lease.”

Councillor Tom Deakin, leader of Taunton Town Council, said that this new arrangement would help to protect the theatre in the short term and allow it to make long-term decisions about its future.

Mr Deakin said: “The Brewhouse is an incredibly important asset for Taunton.

“The quality and breadth of performances, ranging from top billing comedians to heart-warming local amateur dramatic shows and everything in between, makes it a real destination venue.”

Somerset Council agreed as part of its annual budget setting in February to cut £13,000 from the theatre’s budget in 2024/25, with the remaining annual subsidy of £119,000 being cut in 2025/26.

The town council has not indicated how much subsidy it intends to provide for the theatre, with this being agreed as part of its own budget-setting process in February 2026, in time for the new lease to take effect.

The theatre’s future has been clouded by the prospect of a new multi-purpose venue being delivered within the nearby Firepool regeneration site, which would be funded by the sale of 430 new homes elsewhere on the former cattle market.

The multi-purpose venue was included within the council’s Firepool masterplan, which was ratified in March 2023, along with a 130-bed hotel, an eight-screen cinema, a bowling alley, and more.

Work is currently being done at the Firepool site on two schemes to unlock the land for development, with Wessex Water upgrading the local sewage network and the council’s own contractors delivering the boulevard through the site, which will link the railway station to a new amphitheatre and a nice cycle bridge near the theatre.

The council said that the new lease for the Brewhouse did not mean that it had abandoned its ambition for such a venue in light of the site’s ongoing challenges.

A spokesman said: “Any plans for the Firepool site are a separate matter from this lease.”