Greenwich Playhouse to close

Alice de Sousa, Artistic Director of the venue and resident company Galleon Theatre Company said: "Our supporters and the media will recall that Beds and Bars have twice sought to deprive South London of one of its key theatres. In the lead up to the Millennium the greedy backpacker hostel providers, sought to shut this theatre and to replace it with bunk beds for backpackers. Following a near two year campaign, spearheaded by the media, the theatre industry and the local community, they 'bowed down' to pressure and accepted the theatre - which predated their ownership of the building by ten years."

Alice de Sousa added, "Since 2000, Beds and Bars have financially and exclusively benefitted from the revenue derived from the 15,000 plus annual theatre customers. Therefore, that amounts (for the last 11 years) to well in excess of 150,000 customers which the theatre has generated on top of the considerable income which landlords have derived from rent and shared building costs! This explains why successive leases over the last 11 years have been enthusiastically renewed. In the immediate lead up to the Olympics - they are once again up to old tricks! This time however, they are cynically intending to cloud the real issue by releasing statements on their intentions to run their own theatre. Obviously they judge other's intellectual capability and common sense by the evidential lack of their own."

The landlords responded by stating their intention to run an Arts Centre on site, when this failed to silence criticism they commented instead that they are intending to run their own theatre.

Bruce Jamieson co-founding director of the Greenwich Playhouse and Galleon Theatre Company responded by noting that not one of the Beds and Bars management had attended a performance at the Greenwich Playhouse and by calling into doubt there ability to undertake such a venture given the nature of the "entertainments" run at Belushis' and other establishments they run which have included such delights as "The stone, paper, scissors world competition" .... now there's an idea for a play!

A great shame to see an established theatre go after 20 years ... their final production will be The Duchess of Malfi.