The number of bidders in the race to take over Burnham-On-Sea’s Princess Hall has been reduced to three after one group dropped out during the latest round of the district council’s competitive tender process.
Sedgemoor District Council told Burnham-On-Sea.com this week that one of the four groups which had initially submitted an ‘expression of interest’ in the hall earlier this year has decided not to continue further.
Teresa Harvey, who is overseeing the process to find a new group to take over the loss-making facility, confirmed: “The latest deadline for the bidders to submit their proposals and business cases has passed and we now have three bidders in the frame.”
Among them is believed to be S&D Cinemas, which runs Burnham-On-Sea’s Ritz Cinema, and The Friends of The Princess, which currently runs the hall in conjunction with the district council. The group that dropped out of the process is thought to be a regional arts group.
Sedgemoor District Council will make a decision later this year on which group will take over the loss-making hall and attempt to breathe fresh new life into it.
The council has been responsible for the Princess since a local Government re-organisation in 1974. The Princess received a major refurbishment costing £700,000 plus in the mid 1990s, but has been a loss-making facility during recent years.
