Planning permission granted for new West End theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue

Planning permission for the construction of the new Saville Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue has been approved.

The site of the Saville Theatre, which first opened in 1931, was purchased by Yoo Capital in 2021 with plans to bring it back into use as a performance space.

A new 622-seat theatre will form the centrepiece of the site, with famed circus company Cirque Du Soleil initially attached as a potential resident for the performance space. The development will also feature a boutique hotel operated by citizenM and a food and drink offering by Incipio Group.

Plans include reinstating the original entrance on Shaftesbury Avenue and revealing a long-covered glazed arch window, which will form part of a new foyer and staircase leading into the auditorium. The proposals have been shaped by several years of consultation and engagement with the local community. The redevelopment is being led by London-based architects SPPARC and includes the restoration of the Art Deco façade and the Gilbert Bayes frieze Drama through the Ages.

Yoo Capital is also leading the redevelopment of Olympia London – a major new theatre in the western part of the city.

The approval comes after many months and correspondences from bodies such as the Theatres Trust and Historic England, which highlighted potential restrictions involved in having the theatre located underground while hotel space occupies the upper levels. Responses from the architects, SPPARC, said that the plans had “benefits outweighing the minimum necessary harm” and this was “the least harmful, financially viable scheme, returning theatre use within a building reimagined to the highest design quality” and a “once in generation opportunity”.

The Theatres Trust CEO Joshua McTaggart told WhatsOnStage today that the approval represented “a missed opportunity to deliver something truly transformative for both the building and the local area.”

He added that: “While Theatres Trust shares Camden Council’s ambition to see the building returned to use, so it can contribute to economic growth and placemaking in the West End, Theatres Trust maintains that the development will not deliver the venue’s full potential, both economically and culturally, for this vitally important area.”