Discussions about a takeover of St David's Hall by AMG have been ongoing for a number of years, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. Cardiff Council, which owns Wales' national concert hall, has received a proposal from major music group AMG which operates the O2 Academies and has a huge number of venues across the UK.
A FOI request reveals that a meeting was held on March 22, 2021 titled "SDH and Motorpoint" to discuss potential Cardiff city centre venues for AMG to "deliver its 'Academy' product", which appears to show that the council was considering the proposed takeover as early as 2021. Cardiff Council has since confirmed that it has been talking to AMG since 2020 and received an initial offer from the company in December 2021, before discussing it with key stakeholders of the venue in early 2022.
Ben Herrington, who has worked at St David's Hall for over six years, including through the pandemic, said the FOI "confirmed what we already knew as fact." He said: "We knew this wasn't a recent approach. This FOI proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that this happened.
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"This isn’t some concerted effort to go after the council, they need to do their due diligence. This is the national concert hall of Wales. It’s a venue that was built specifically to provide a service musically for the nation which it did not have when it was built. St David's Hall as a public and civic building provides a service that a private company may not. It provides a platform for arts education for young people, for Welsh culture, and for the Welsh language."
Since the plans for the takeover were made public, there have been calls for a public consultation on the future of the hall, while more than 12,000 people have signed a petition calling for protection of the building. Mr Herrington said he was concerned that public uses of the building may not carry on if the venue was sold, and fears that while a new potential owner could hire it back to the council for events, the finance behind doing that may not be viable.
But the council said the proposal protects the main classical programme, community events, and includes opportunities for these to be extended. It added that safeguarding jobs at the venue and retaining its status as the National Concert Hall of Wales, with access to the Classical symphonic repertoire, would be an "absolute imperative" for the administration, under any proposal.
A council spokesperson said: "The Council has been exploring alternatives for the running of St David’s Hall since 2016 when we undertook a full competitive dialogue public procurement process. Each year, at budget setting time, the future of St David’s Hall is re-considered as it requires an annual subsidy from the council which often reaches £1m a year.
"The Council has been talking to Academy Music Group (AMG) since 2020 and their desire to deliver their live entertainment product has been a part of those conversations which is what this meeting relates to.
"Following these early discussions, the Council received an initial offer from AMG in December 2021 and discussed this offer informally with key stakeholders who use the Hall in early 2022. The proposal has been developed in more detail over the past few months as part of the Council’s consideration of savings proposals for 2023/24 and will be consulted on in the normal way as part of the budget setting process."
Mr Herrington continued: "If the council were looking at alternative options for St David's Hall, why was there no public consultation or investigation of alternative funding options?"
In a full council meeting last week, cabinet member for culture, parks and events, Councillor Jennifer Burke-Davies, said the issue will come to cabinet next month, where members will be able "to fully consider all the options on the table from that".
The council spokesperson explained: "The Council has considered an in-house, public funded approach in the past, also as part of a recent options appraisal, but the financial implications on the Council are significantly greater than the proposal offered by AMG – which would see St David’s Hall maintain its use as the National Concert Hall of Wales, the classical programme protected, the building upgraded and maintained, all while introducing AMG’s live product to Cardiff which, in itself, would deliver a major improvement on St David Hall’s commercial rock and pop music offer.
"There is undeniably a need to secure investment into St David’s Hall, but safeguarding jobs at the venue and retaining its status as the National Concert Hall of Wales, with access to the Classical symphonic repertoire, would be an absolute imperative for the administration, under any proposal. The council knows the importance of St David’s Hall to classical music lovers and the proposal does protect the main classical programme, community events, and includes opportunities for these to be extended.
"The proposal also commits to a substantial investment to upgrade the building, ensure the hall’s reputation for world-class acoustics would remain and to protect all existing employees on their current terms and conditions through a TUPE agreement. Cardiff Council’s Cabinet will consider a report on the AMG proposals in December."
The council has been planning how to safeguard the futures of "heritage buildings" including the New Theatre, St David's Hall, Cardiff Castle and the Norwegian Church for several years. The Norwegian Church reopened earlier in 2022 after being taken over by a charity, and the New Theatre was taken over in late 2021.
It has previously been reported that the Cardiff International Arena in the city centre could be demolished after a new arena in Cardiff Bay, operated by the same leaseholders (Live Nation) was announced.
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