The process of taking on the Royal Bell as an arts centre is going to be hard. Extremely hard! Because there are so many issues relating to land ownership, leases, conservation and sustainability in the future a huge amount of research has been done to see which avenues we can go down to procure it and which ones have the best chance and support behind them.
Below is a presentation detailing the concept of how we want to take on the Royal Bell and how it will run in the future.
I hope this gives you more of an idea about what we're hoping to achieve with the Bromley Arts and Community Initiative. Please don't hesitate to post comments and email to register your interest if you'd like to :)
Below are some pictures of the Royal Bell which I took a few months ago when I gained access through the agents AG&G. As you can see the place is in a real state and needs time and money spent on it to restore it back to its former glory. The current lease holders are currently trying to sub lease the property but issues with costs of making the building fit for use is no doubt putting bidders off. When I present a full plan of how we'd like to procure the building to the council I will request a English Heritage to come along and do a survey of the building too and hope they make strong recommendations about the need to stop it falling any further into a state of disrepair.
Hi there and welcome along!
I've started this blog to document the journey of finding, procuring and (most importantly) raising the money to open a community and arts space for the visitors and residents of Bromley, Kent. Over the last few years our town centre has been slowing down, shops and restaurants have closed, businesses are struggling and it just doesn't have the thriving, positive feel it used to.
Bromley has a lot going for it, its a historic market town with a whole host of fantastic old buildings (many of which were bulldozed to make way for the Glades and general redevelopment of Bromley sadly though) and if you look up above the shop signage they start telling you their stories, including the 1886 Medhurst's department store (now Primark) and whole rows of Victorian façades that add character and links us to this towns history.
