A 53-year-old woman is peering up from under a polka-dotted umbrella to look at a washed-out building on Fairbottom Street in Oldham . Above the stained white walls, faded letters spell out the theatre’s name, almost unreadable. The Coliseum’s tired façade contrasts starkly with two shiny new posters affixed beside its boarded-up entrance.
One sign reads: ‘Oldham Coliseum - has been saved - BY YOU!’ For now, that’s the only indication that the fate of this historic and much-loved venue has changed. The 139-year-old theatre closed down in March last year after losing its funding from Arts Council England. The Oldham Coliseum looking a little worse for wear in the drizzle (Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News) But, thanks to a tireless campaign by a group of grassroots campaigners, the council has agreed to foot the bill for a £10m refurb to bring it back into working order - in time for Panto season 2025.
“When I heard the news I just had to come and see it,” the woman with the umbrella, Melanie Duignan, told the M.E.N.
Melanie beamed as she reminisced about her formative experiences at the theatre. The English teacher has lived and worked in London for much of her adult life but has never forgotten the many trips she made as a teenager from Bolton to the ‘most accessible theatre’ in Greater Manchester. Melanie, a teacher who originally hails from Bolton, remembers the Coliseum's formative impact on her as a teen (Image: Sean Hansford | Mancheste.
