Sue Townsend Theatre

After the demise of the Royal, Palace and Opera House theatres in the late 1950s, the City Council agreed to test the demand for live theatre by erecting the Phoenix as a small temporary building with a life expectancy of ten years at a cost of £21,175 (cf Coventry Belgrade £192,601 and Nottingham Playhouse £375,000).

The theatre was described as a ‘standard steel-framed warehouse type building’ and has an unexciting exterior. Three banks of seats in a single rake auditorium provide good sight lines for the open end stage which has a permanent cyclorama.

In 1988 a joint management project between Leicester Polytechnic and Leicester City Council was established to provide an extension and refurbishment of the temporary structure. This included turning the side elevation into a new front while reorganising and constructing new box office, bar, facilities, café/restaurant and foyers. This included a new PHOENIX neon sign with stainless steel letters across the roof of the first floor bar area.

In 2009 Leicester Arts Centre, which was based in the building, moved to its new location in Phoenix Square. The former Arts Centre is now the Upper Brown Street campus of Leicester College, providing it with live music and performing arts facilities.