WHILE sympathising with The Octagon Theatre on their financial difficulties, and appreciating that this may be partly due to a freeze on arts subsidies, I think we must take a detailed look as to why audiences

are falling. Quite simply Bolton has become a cultural desert!

For as long as I care to remember, the powers-that-be have promoted the town as purely a shopping centre with merely the odd gesture towards anything 'artistic', and as a result people of the borough have simply lost the habit of going into the town centre for any kind of cultural or artistic event (not that they can actually get into the town centre after

7pm if they rely on public transport!).

OK, we have the Octagon and an art gallery but these are located in a part of the town that is deserted after 7pm.

If you can get to The Octagon midweek for a night out, there is precious little to do afterwards but go home. Where are the jazz clubs, late night cafes and, come to think of it, cinemas?

While I hope The Octagon can be bailed out (and may I suggest they diversify slightly by putting on late night concerts and performances, which I seem to remember successfully taking place in the late 60's early70s), I suggest that their troubles are merely symptomatic of a great lethargy towards 'art' in Bolton, a lethargy caused for the most part by the council's continual promotion of Bolton as merely a family shopping centre.

If we are to bail the Octagon out, then this must be accompanied by a complete rethink of the council's strategy towards 'art' in the town. More resources must be put into the cultural industries and evening economy to help dispel this lethargy, otherwise the situation will arise again. We are continually told we have a great shopping centre, OK, now we've got it let's start to develop the cultural and artistic side of the town, which must be in place before Bolton can be seriously considered for either university or city status.

Alec Martin

The Buskers Ball of Bolton

Breighmet Drive, Bolton

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