By John Baron
Organisers of the popular Pudsey Doll and Teddy Fair have cancelled their events at Pudsey Civic Hall this year amid uncertainty over the venue’s long-term future – and have moved to Brighouse.
Leeds City Council is proposing to close Pudsey Civic Hall in a bid to save money, but has said no final decision has been taken while officers analyse the responses to a public consultation on the issue. Should the decision to close it go ahead, the facility would not close before December.
But the situation appears to be affecting future bookings. Organisers of the Pudsey Doll and Toy Fair have posted an announcement on their website stating that council has not been clear on what is happening to the venue. As a result organisers have cancelled the event scheduled for Saturday, 20 April, and moved their scheduled October event to a venue in Brighouse. They also – wrongly – state that the Civic Hall will definitely close.
“As many of you are probably already aware, the Pudsey Civic Hall will be closing towards the end of this year!” the organisers wrote. “It has been made very difficult, as the council has not been very clear on what is happening, causing us much confusion. So we feel we cannot safely run the April show.
“It is still unclear as to when The Pudsey Civic Hall will definitely close. Therefore, we have made the difficult decision to move the fair as of
now!
“This has been a very difficult time for the Doll and Teddy team, but we do feel it’s the right decision.”
One local resident aware of the situation contacted WLD this week to say that the proposed closure will become an ‘inevitable self-fulfilling prophecy’ unless the council deals with bookings effectively.
A Leeds City Council spokeswoman told WLD: “As we have said previously, Pudsey Civic Hall will continue to remain open and honour all existing and any new bookings made until at least the end of December 2024, which is the earliest point it could close.
“We have been liaising with booking holders and service users to make them aware of this, and will ensure we have a plan in place ahead of time if a final decision is taken to close the building.”
Last week WLD fact-checked a misleading social media post which originally suggested that the decision to close Pudsey Civic Hall had already been taken due to last month’s vote to approve the council budget.
The council is proposing to close the facility as it seeks to slash £60m from its overall budget this financial year. The proposals have been met with local opposition.
- The Pudsey Doll and Teddy Fair will feature 45 stalls at Bailiff Bridge Community Centre, Victoria Road, Bailiff Bridge, Brighouse HD6 4DX on Sunday, 20 October 2024, from 10am-3pm. More details here.
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So it’s the usual. Cancel an event which could have made money for the Civic Hall. Run it down, and then say that it will cost too much to renovate it. Meanwhile, the ruling Labour (proleteriate), are sitting on millions of pounds worth of debt owed by council tax payers that could have been used to renovate the civic hall and paid for other worthy causes that need an injection of money to be able to benefit the Council Tax payers of Leeds
You can’t get blood from a stone.
Manchester are opening a new 23000 seat venue and our pathetic, small minded , embarrassment of a council cannot, or will not preserve a local, much enjoyed civic building.
You’re not really comparing like with like are you?