Romford’s Brookside Theatre celebrates 10 year anniversary.

There have been a multitude of actors, comedians and musicians to have emerged successfully from their Essex roots and as the county’s recent run of success in the plethora of TV shows we see, this county just seems to have a knack of producing celebrities. Many of our towns have a wide range of performing arts groups that nurture talent from an early age as well as venues that cater for those that wish to watch rather than participate in treading the boards. Romford is just one such place and one venue in particular has been lighting up the lights in this Essex town for a decade. 

It may come as some surprise that for a town of Romford’s size, there wasn’t a theatre until 2012. The Brookside Theatre on Eastern Road, resides on the site of the Romford War Memorial Social Club, previously known as the Romford War Memorial Old Folks Club, which was opened in October, 1953. The buildings were built to commemorate the lives of the service personnel and civilians from Romford, who lost their lives during WW2. In the early 1970’s, the construction of the ring road encouraged the building of several large office blocks which overwhelmed the memorial and over time the buildings fell into disrepair. 

Enter Romford born playwright Jai Sepple, his wife, Harri and a small team of local volunteers on a mission to restore the memorial buildings and open Romford’s first and only community arts venue.

In 2011, the self-funded work began to turn the memorial buildings into a theatre to serve the town and in May 2012, a charity performance of Shout! The Sixties Musical was the first to be staged there. 

Since then, the theatre has grown from strength to strength, producing countless first class plays and musicals and played host to tribute acts, live bands and even celebrities such as Chas & Dave, T’Pau, Beverley Craven, Cheryl Baker, Jimmy Jones, Paul Daniels, Hazel O’Connor, Chesney Hawkes, Anita Harris, Joe Longthorne, John Challis, Jeffrey Holland to name just a few. The theatre continues to be self-funded and entirely voluntary run with all productions staged to raise money for the continued restoration and upkeep of these historic buildings. 

The 200-seat venue in Romford’s town centre, is recognised as a great asset to the town and borough’s leisure and entertainment facilities and remains at the heart of the community and in 2019, Jai Sepple was awarded a British Empire Medal from Queen Elizabeth in recognition of their contribution to arts in the community.

It certainly seems that Romford is now a key centre for the performing arts in Havering with a, ever-growing reputation. Thanks to the dedicated and enthusiastic team who undertook the project, this reputation is in safe hands and we look forward to more exciting productions over the next 10 years.

The theatre is always happy to hear from local residents wanted to get involved, either on stage or by joining the theatre’s friendly volunteer team. Anyone interested should email the theatre at info@brooksidertheatre.com. For more information about forthcoming events or to support the theatre, visit the theatre’s website, www.brooksidetheatre.com. 

For further information, images, or for interview / press review ticket requests, please contact 01708 755775 / info@brooksidetheatre.com