Demand grows to reopen Scarborough Spa and Whitby Pavilion

Discussions are to continue with the operator of Scarborough Spa and Whitby Pavilion to see how and when the venues can reopen in some capacity, the borough council has confirmed.
Scarborough SpaScarborough Spa
Scarborough Spa

Sheffield City Trust, also known as Sheffield International Venues (SIV), which runs the seaside venues on behalf of Scarborough Borough Council, announced earlier this month that it was consulting with staff over redundancies and would be “mothballing” the sites.

At yesterday’s meeting of Scarborough Council’s full council, the Cluster of Independent Members leader Cllr Bill Chatt pressed leader Cllr Steve Siddons on what was being done to get the venues open.

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He said it was a “horrendous situation” that 54 staff were at risk of redundancy.

Cllr Chatt said: “We should have those venues open. People are saying to me ‘what an awful thing to have, you have got plenty of room for social distancing, why are you not at least opening up for a cup of coffee and a bacon barm?’ At least that would be something.

“I just think it is awful that we are in this situation.”

He added that the council needed to ensure that “as many people as possible keep their jobs”.

Cllr Siddons responded that the council was in discussions with SIV and stressed that the venues had not been closed down in their entirety but were “on hold” until further advice on reopening came from the government.

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He added: “My view, and the view of the cabinet, is that there are parts of the Spa that probably could be opened and we are looking at how we might do that and we are working with SIV to ensure that happens.”

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