KLV facilities to stay open until at least July after tenancy extended

Those battling to save the under-threat Kettering Leisure Village complex now have at least July to find a way to keep it open.

Last week it was announced that the Kettering Conference Centre – along with The Lighthouse Theatre, Balance Health Club and Arena Sports Centre – would shut on May 31.

Since then more than 10,000 people have signed a petition to keep the site open and comedian James Acaster has backed calls for North Northamptonshire Council to step in and save it.

This afternoon (Tuesday) a Kettering Conference Centre spokesman said they have now agreed to extend their tenancy until July 3 – and keep the Thurston Drive facilities open until then – to give more time for alternative solutions to be found.

The spokesman said: “We have heard the concerns raised by the local community about the closure of Kettering Conference Centre which includes the Lighthouse Theatre, Balance Health Club and Arena Leisure Centre. We recognise that the site and in particular the theatre and the gym are important to the community.

"Therefore, to support our employees and give our partners more time to find alternative solutions, we have agreed with the landlord an extension to our tenancy until Monday, July 3, 2023. We will continue to operate the site and keep the facilities open until this date. As we are the tenant, going forward it is for the landlord and the council to decide on the future of the site.

“As we previously stated, it has been a very difficult decision to close Kettering Conference Centre and not one we have taken lightly. Even with the council grant, we can confirm that all the businesses within the venue have been loss-making for a number of years. We have invested a significant amount of money into the facilities and our teams have worked hard to support all areas on the site. However, recently energy costs have risen by 290 per cent and operational costs by a further 50 per cent - this means it is no longer sustainable for us to operate.

“Our teams will continue to work to process refunds for events, performances and membership in anticipation of the closure on July 3, 2023. As this decision has recently been reached, the Lighthouse Theatre will confirm in the coming days if any shows in June will be reinstated.

“We are continuing to support our employees and working to identify alternative employment. We would like to thank our teams for their continued professionalism over recent days.”

The site houses about 3,000 health club members, the National Volleyball Centre, sports groups, the British Judo Council, local theatre groups, dance schools, NHS midwifery, personal trainers, therapists, Kettering Town Council, youth groups, volunteers, religious groups, businesses and more, as well as being a hub for local and national elections and being used for major e-sports events.

Mike Balderson, who works at the site and set up the petition to save it, said: “We’ve got another month which is great.

"There seems to be some signs that there are interested parties.”

North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) leases KLV from B&Q Farms at a peppercorn rent, an arrangement which was inherited from their predecessor authority, Kettering Borough Council.

The council has a contractual arrangement with Phoenix Leisure, which further sublet KLV to Compass Group Services, which made the closure decision. NNC have said they are reviewing their legal position over the contract arrangements.

Many campaigners believe the site is a viable business and the closure announcement took everyone by surprise, including venue staff and councillors who had no idea it was coming.

Over the weekend it emerged that a document found online, putting the site on the market for £7.65m, had been prepared in January 2023 – three months before the closure was announced.

The document said the site had an income of £817,583 per year in rent and a yield of 10 per cent. It also cited the pre-tax profits of the Compass Group, which took over the centre in 2017, as being £189.4m.

Cllr Jim Hakewill (Ind, Rothwell and Mawsley) has been a councillor in the Kettering district since 1985 and remembers the opening of KLV in the early 1990s. He’s accused NNC’s political leadership of ‘being asleep at the wheel’.

He said: "I think we would all like to know exactly what the council was aware of in relation to the sale of the centre and why contingency plans were not put in place.”

And a letter signed by Kettering’s five unitary and town Labour councillors said: "The announced closure of the Kettering Leisure Village has left us all reeling. The Leisure Village was delivered by a Labour administration, which also backed the centre’s operations with £1m to support running costs and deliver a range of community and sports services. The Village has changed over the years, but Arena Sports, the Lighthouse Theatre and the Balance Health Club are very popular and much needed by our residents.

"The catastrophic collapse of these services and amenities is a direct result of the failure of the Government to support leisure services’ energy bills across the country. NNC is a creature of this government – not least because it was created when the Tory-run Northants County Council collapsed. But what foresight did NNC show? We would be interested to have a detailed narrative of what lead members and MPs did to support this facility before rather than after the operations were terminated.”

Earlier today we asked NNC when they were first informed of plans to close the site, when they were informed that it was going on the market and whether discussions were held about the sale process and the impact it would have on future provision there. We are yet to received a response.

To sign the petition to stop the closure of the site, visit https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-closure-of-kettering-conference-centre.