We are open!

"It's taken a collective effort of more than 100,000 hours worth of volunteering to get us to this point. That is the equivalent of £300,000!"

After six long years of campaigning, debating, planning, fundraising and renovating, our beloved arts venue is finally open for business!

Our newly opened Cossham Hall hosted its first show in April, a sold-out performance by comedian Alfie Moore that marked the return of Thornbury Arts Festival to its spiritual home. Visitors have been arriving in droves both to attend performances and to have tours of the renovations, including our dramatically transformed Foyer and bar. And bookings from groups and performers from the town, and further afield, are starting to fill the diary.

On the night before the Thornbury Arts Festival curtain-raiser, Maggie Lansdown, the wife of billionaire Bristol City and Bristol Bears owner Steve Lansdown, cut a ceremonial ribbon at our special gathering of more than 100 volunteers.

In 2024, Maggie offered £350,000 to kick-start the renovation work in memory of her mother, Betty Brock, who often frequented our venue before it closed. At this point, the future of our complex was at a crucial crossroads: The Armstrong Hall Trust, which is responsible for our site on Chapel Street, was weighing up whether to refurbish and renew the existing buildings or sell the site to fund a new theatre space at Turnberrie's Community Centre. Maggie's donation enabled the Trust to maintain ownership of our beloved venue. She later increased her donation to £1.25m to ensure the Cossham Hall and Foyer could open in 2026, with the larger Armstrong Hall - newly renamed The Lansdown Hall - due to be tackled next.

April really did prove to be a rollercoaster month for us. Following the outstanding success of Thornbury Arts Festival, we welcomed visitors to our Tea & Tours to explore the new space and the reaction to the changes has been wholeheartedly positive and appreciative. In the meantime, the team have been working tirelessly behind the scenes ensuring everything runs smoothly. Volunteers have quickly got to grips with the intricacies of running a modern bar and cellar, cleaned chairs, assembled furniture and organised deliveries of soft furnishings and supplies. The vast skillsets, knowledge and talent of each of our volunteers has made all of this possible. Special mention must go to Jill and Steve Dimond who have been, and continue to be, an inspiration to the whole team involved in this long, and often difficult, journey.

"It's been such a delight to see our audience's pleasure to be back in The Armstrong after so many years"

Our ambitious events schedule is ready and raring to go, including monthly musical Armstrong Sessions in our intimate Foyer, seasonal tea dances, National Theatre Live screenings, craft days, literary events, cinema, children's entertainment and music of all kinds! We also recently welcomed theatre company JTP's new play, It's What Matters, which was met with an upstanding reception.

And there is so much more in the planning stages - if there is a performance or event that you would like to see here, all recommendations are welcome: hello@thearmstrong.co.uk

For information on all our upcoming events, head to: www.thearmstrong.co.uk/whats-on and to enquire about hiring our venue, head to bookings.thearmstrong.co.uk

Finally, who doesn't love a 'before and after'? Head to our Facebook page to see the difference that 6 years, multiple building contractors/specialists/tradespeople and 100,000 volunteer hours has truly made to our arts venue.

We are so happy to be back!