G Live Reports Record Profit Year

Published on: 10 Jan, 2019
Updated on: 13 Jan, 2019

G Live – Photo Amy Robinson Photography

By Rebecca Curley

Local Democracy Reporter

Guildford’s theatre and music venue G Live has delivered a record profit making year for taxpayers.

Guildford Borough Council will receive £63,088 in profit share as the venue’s annual report sets out a successful year for the arts venture.

Attendance in 2017/18 was over 15,000 higher than in the previous year, with nearly a quarter of a million visitors in 12 months.

And post-subsidy profit reached £315,440. According to the report, to be presented to councillors on the overview and scrutiny committee next week, profit share for the year before was £45,800 with an overall profit of £228,999.

The council operates and manages G Live with HQ Theatres Guildford Limited (HQT) and entered a 10-year contract in 2011. The report sets out results for year seven.

The council pays a management fee in monthly instalments for the operation of the London Road venue, fixed at £328,595 per year.

Any net income generated is split between HQT which receives 80% and the council which gets 20%.

Council papers state: “The surplus has grown each year as the venue has matured and this year’s surplus is, therefore, a new record and a significant improvement on the previous period.”

Writing in the report. which covers the contract year October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018, Alvin Hargreaves, G Live interim director, said: “G Live has proved to be a remarkably flexible contemporary venue that is capable of accommodating the varied needs of professional touring shows and local community organisations, as well as being a vital linchpin within Guildford’s business and leisure tourism offer.

“The value to local community users is proven through a very high level of demand. In year seven we’ve seen demand continue to increase from local organisations keen to utilise the venue.”

New venue director, Derek Aldridge, is set to start this month.

Councillors will consider the report at their meeting on Tuesday, January 15, at 7pm.

Responses to G Live Reports Record Profit Year

Bernard Parke Reply

January 10, 2019 at 9:42 am

So GBC pays £328,528 and gets £63,088 back.

Whilst a record profit is declared at £325,440.

Have I missed something ?
Valerie Thompson Reply

January 10, 2019 at 2:56 pm

And who actually built the venue? And at what cost?
Ben Paton Reply

January 10, 2019 at 3:29 pm

It would help if the report gave the public a link to this profit statement. As Bernard Parke points out, it looks as if it is, in fact, a loss dressed up as a profit.

Did I read somewhere that the Council spent £22 million building this? If so £60k profit (or is it a £270k loss?) per annum is the square root of next to nothing.

It’s not as if Guildford doesn’t already have a theatre.

How many council houses would £22 million buy?
George Potter Reply

January 10, 2019 at 6:21 pm

Given that G-Live cost tens of millions of pounds of taxpayers money to build I presume this means that the council will be paid back for its investment at some point before the year 3000?
A Rossiter Reply

January 11, 2019 at 10:20 am

As above, we pay 588,880 to get back 63,088. If this was a financial investment you’d be asking the FIA to look into it.
Why is the profit split 80:20 when the running costs are covered?
Bernard Parke Reply

January 11, 2019 at 12:36 pm

I do believe I was once told that GBC is also liable for maintenance and insurance.

G Live also has to compete with the larger venues in Woking which no doubt is quite a challenge,