Rishi Sunak praises women behind project to transform Kettering bingo hall and promises meeting with minister

The inspirational women behind a project to transform Kettering’s old bingo hall have been praised by the Prime Minister.

Beccy Hurrell and Lindsey Atkins were commended by Rishi Sunak during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) this afternoon (Wednesday).

They want to turn the derelict Gala Bingo site in High Street into a community arts, music, business and family hub that the town can be proud of.

Last month they missed out on Government funding – but they’re bidding again and Mr Sunak has promised to secure a meeting between the relevant minister and Kettering MP Philip Hollobone about it.

Lindsey said: “To have our project be raised again at Westminster is incredible and it is helping us keep the profile of this project high.

"We are two determined ladies who will find a way to make this a reality for Kettering.”

Beccy added: “I firmly believe everything happens for a reason. Although we were unsuccessful with our first Community Ownership Fund bid, it has opened the door to another opportunity that may help this much-needed project for Kettering and north Northants.

"We are still shocked that this is being raised at Westminster, not once but twice, but look forward to the possibility of bringing this deserving project to ministers and civil servants at Whitehall.”

Conservative MP Mr Hollobone (Con) used PMQs today to raise the project at the highest level. Beccy and Lindsey want to turn the site into a gig venue with a cafe, shops, work spaces and more and, through their community interest company, BHVA Axis Hub CIC, have asked for £2m from the Government’s Community Ownership Fund, which helps groups take on at-risk assets.

In the House of Commons today Mr Hollobone, who pleaded with the Government to put cash towards the project in December, said: “Two remarkably talented and enthusiastic individuals from Kettering, Beccy Hurrell and Lindsey Atkins, have put together a really ambitious £2m bid to repurpose the redundant Gala bingo hall site in Kettering high street into a community arts, music, business and family hub, which, would be simply transformative for Kettering town centre.

"Would my right honourable friend the Prime Minister please be kind enough to facilitate a meeting for us with the relevant culture and levelling up ministers so we can explore how a combined Community Ownership Fund and Cultural Development Fund bid might get us across the line?”

In response Mr Sunak praised Beccy and Lindsey’s work and said he would ensure that a meeting would be held.

He said: “Can I thank my honourable friend for highlighting this exciting initiative and also commend Beccy and Lindsey for their campaigning.

"He’ll know that our £150m Community Ownership Fund is there specifically to help safeguard small but much-loved local assets, and indeed our cultural development fund, like the one that he mentions, is there to support further cultural projects as well.

"I will ensure that he gets a meeting with the relevant minister to discuss these plans further and wish him, and his constituents, all the best with this redevelopment project.”

Beccy and Lindsey’s overall £5m plan for the building hopes to see it become a safe space where people can grow and flourish.

They hope to provide a space for gigs and performances, a community cafe that turns into a bar in the evening, soft play, shops and spaces for workshops and businesses, as well as holding clinics to help people in areas including health, employment and law. They say the idea is that it would pay for itself with people paying to use the space.

North Northamptonshire Council bosses are also backing the plan but are not putting finances towards it yet, although leader Cllr Jason Smithers (Con) said they could look at it at a later date.

He said: “I think it’s an absolutely fantastic idea and I think these two ladies have got so much talent pouring out and ambition, and they’ve got the drive that I think can certainly pull this project off.

"It’s not for the faint-hearted, a project like this, and I am prepared as the leader of NNC to ensure that we give them all the practical support that they need to get them where they need to be.”

Chief executive Adele Wylie added: “It’s a fantastic project. NNC will be really proud if this comes off and proud of the talent that we have in north Northamptonshire.”

Built on a former drapery store, the site was opened as Regal Cinema on Boxing Day in 1936 by Earl Spencer.

In 1947 it was taken over by Granada Theatres and hosted several concerts, including The Who and The Rolling Stones, before closing in 1974 and being taken over by Gala Bingo who closed it in 2018.

It made headlines around the world in June 2019 when police found a full house of 2,000 cannabis plants there, potentially worth almost £3m in value. The Kettering Town Centre Partnership (KTCP) then had it listed as an asset of community value, giving groups the chance to put together a bid if it ever went on the market.

In January 2023 its owners notified council bosses of their intention to sell it, with BHVA Axis Hub CIC applying to trigger the moratorium. Beccy and Lindsey have formulated a phased plan which would see full its potential realised by 2028-29.