THE injection of £1.68 million of National Lottery cash into Bolton's Octagon Theatre means that much-needed building work can be completed.

The money comes to the theatre via an Arts Council lottery grant, which means the money cannot be used for productions or ticket prices.

But while productions are still the paramount draw for theatre audiences, customers increasingly demand that they enjoy their theatre in comfortable surroundings.

The Octagon has already upgraded some of its facilities, but the extra money means that other important areas like seating, heating and ventilation can be improved. Changes in the rules about how Lottery funds may be used could mean that future cash given to theatres could be used for putting on plays, not only on capital expenditure.

We hope that the Octagon, which stages some exceptionally good productions, will be in line for such grants as well. The theatre is an asset of which Bolton is rightly proud.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.