page_title: Greenock Arts Guild
section_title: Redevelopment and replacement
hierarchical_section_title: Greenock Arts Guild / History: Arts Guild Theatre / Redevelopment and replacement
caption_attribution_description: English: Custom House Quay on the waterfront of Greenock in Scotland, with the Beacon Arts Centre behind the Georgian ornamental light that was originally called the Beacon, and the Customhouse to the right.
context_page_description: The Greenock Arts Guild formed in 1946. Their Arts Guild Theatre on Campbell Street in Greenock, Scotland, held public performances from 1947 to 8 December 2012, then in January 2013 they opened the Beacon Arts Centre, a new building on Greenock's waterfront, adjacent to Customhouse Quay. Its main performance spaces are the Main Auditorium and The Studio theatre space. A Gallery Suite provides multifunction meeting, rehearsal and functions space, the "Bar + Kitchen" bistro café serves meals at lunchtime and before specific events. The Gallery Suite and the restaurant have full height glazed walls looking directly out over the River Clyde to the hills of Dunbartonshire and Argyll.
  The Arts Guild Theatre was adapted from a disused Victorian swimming pool, its Wallace Bennett Theatre opened in 1949 followed by the Main Auditorium in 1955. It became a receiving house for touring shows, as well as producing house with half the performances amateur, as well as providing classes and workshops in music, art and drama.
context_section_description: In 2004 it was proposed that the Guild should seek funding to redevelop the Campbell Street premises. The estimated cost was £5.5million and in 2006, the Scottish Arts Council agreed to award £2.6 million towards the refurbishment, with the remainder to be raised by the Guild. 
  Subsequently, however, Inverclyde Council approached the Guild to suggest that they might wish to relocate to a more central site on the waterfront and that that could lever additional support from Riverside Inverclyde. After several months of discussion and a feasibility study, the Guild opted to build a brand new arts centre - The Beacon - on former ship repair graving yard and dockland beside Customhouse Quay.
  The Arts Guild Theatre closed with a last show on Saturday 8 December 2012, a performance of the pantomime Cinderella by the Greenock Players amateur dramatic company. The building was subsequently used by the Thistle Theatre Group, but it continued to deteriorate and in December 2017 its owners Peel Land and Property announced demolition of the old premises early in 2018.
caption: The quayside site is close to Greenock's Custom House.
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