Campaign Meeting Wednesday 3rd December 2025
We have our next online meeting on Wednesday 3rd December 2025 at 8pm. Please register via our events page.
We’ll be discussing the campaign and the recent planning application.
Save Streatham Hill Theatre from change of use to a church
Brixton Chamber Orchestra Concert at Streatham Hill Theatre 19 December 2025
Brixton Chamber Orchestra will stage a concert at the theatre on 19th December at 7pm as part of their 2025 Christmas Estates Tour, staging 11 free gigs across Lambeth from Friday 12th to Sunday 22nd December.
“We’re back with a seasonal setlist packed with something for everyone – from classical and grime to disco, pop, jazz, and, of course, your festive favourites.
We’re thrilled to be taking the Christmas Estates Tour across Lambeth, and this year we will play at Streatham Hill Theatre, a magnificent space first opened in the 1920s as one of London’s largest and most revered venues outside of the West End.
Join us as we celebrate the season with music and plenty of Christmas cheer—right on your doorstep.”
For more information see the Brixton Chamber Orchestra website.
More Programmes added to the Archive
We’ve had a donation of programmes from Gilbert and Sullivan operas performed in the 1930s at Streatham Hill Theatre. Debbie Haughton found them in her late mother’s belongings, who left a note saying that the theatre did a season of these operas every year when was a child (she was born in 1929).
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Streatham Festival Tour of the Theatre
The Streatham Festival team approached the current owners Ruach City Church through the auspices of local MP Steve Reed’s office to ask for access to the theatre for this year’s (2025) Streatham Festival. There was the possibility for a concert, a comedy event and guided tours.
After a period of negotiations regarding content, costs and arrangements, only the tour is able to go ahead. Organised by our local open-access, volunteer-run, non-profit Streatham Theatre Company, there will be two tours on Thursday 16th October. Tours are free, but tickets are required from STC as numbers are limited.
Find out more at STC’s website.
Update: Tours “sold out” within a few hours with many more joining a waiting list. This shows how much interest there is in this “Sleeping Beauty”.
Norbury Knitters Knit Banner for SHT
We greatly thank the Norbury Knitters of Knitting Norbury Together for creating this banner to publicise our campaign to save Streatham Hill Theatre.
The banner will be put on public display around Streatham, moving from place to place. Please keep a lookout for it, and if you see it, please post a photo on your socials and @ us in!
Knitting Norbury Together (2015-Present) is a community collective known for creating eye-catching knitted displays for their local South London community. Their knitting and crochet brings colour and joy to the area, marking special occasions, publicising community activities, and raising money for charity.
Save Our Streatham Hill Theatre (2025) features brightly coloured knitted letters and theatrical motifs, such as masks, top hats, and ballet shoes, interwoven across a white crocheted net. This binding structure symbolises South London neighbourhoods “coming together” at a moment when the theatre’s future was deeply uncertain, united in their shared ambitions for creativity and opportunity. The softness of the yarn mirrors the vulnerability of the theatre, with their shared delicacy and malleable properties becoming a metaphor for the theatre’s fate: at risk of irreversible change, yet also capable of being protected, repaired, and reimagined for a wider audience.
A tribute to one of South London’s most significant cultural landmarks, Save Our Streatham Hill Theatre (2025) draws attention to the Grade II listed building’s fragility and enduring potential. With a capacity of 2,800, similar in size to the London Palladium, the theatre stands as an emblem of the area’s great artistic heritage. Once renowned as the “West End of South London,” Streatham could be revitalised with a vibrant, thriving commercial venue, nurturing both community life and artistic endeavour, re-establishing its place as a major cultural destination.
Notice of AGM 9th October 2025 at 8pm
Please save the date, and register online via our Events page.
NOTICE is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of The Friends of Streatham Hill Theatre will be held at 8pm on Thursday 9th October 2025 to transact the following business.
The meeting is open to all, however only voting Members may speak or vote. Others may speak at the discretion of the chairman.
Online joining instructions will follow.
Agenda
- Apologies and Declarations (see Note a)
- Minutes of last AGM held 6th September 2024 (c)
Matters arising and acceptance - Receive reports from Trustees (c)
- Receive financial statements and report from the Treasurer (c)
- Election of Trustees (c, d)
- Other business of The Friends
Notes
(a) Any relevant affiliations or potential conflicts of interest must be declared.
If unable to attend, voting Members may appoint a proxy using the appointment form (c).
(b) The CIO Constitution is published here: http://resources.streathamhilltheatre.org/friends/The%20Friends%20of%20Streatham%20Hill%20Theatre%20CIO%20Constitution%20Amended%2006-09-2023.pdf
(c) Supporting documents and forms are published here: http://resources.streathamhilltheatre.org/friends
(d) One-third of elected Trustees must stand down, along with any Trustees appointed since the last AGM, but are all eligible for re-election. Voting Members may nominate candidates using the nomination form (c).
Streatham Hill Theatre the subject of Master’s Degree Final Thesis by French Architecture student
In 2024 our theatre attracted the attention of French architecture student Sixtine Compin from the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Lyon. She and her tutor met with some of The Friends on a visit to the UK where we provided information on the theatre and our campaign, and presented her with a copy of the John Cresswell book about the theatre.
Her thesis “Theatres as a Heritage, Protecting Theatres in the Face of Modern Challenges (1880-1930)” (currently in French, translation pending) covers a number of UK theatres, including Streatham Hill. She has developed a vision and design for a future Streatham Hill Theatre, and made models of the proposals. She focused on rehabilitating the theatre as a cultural centre connected to its local community. The cultural centre she designed included a music school, a media library, as well as a rooftop café and garden. Thanks to this work, Sixtine has been able to successfully complete her Master’s degree in architecture!
You can see all the documents and images in our resources section, but here are the models:
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Streatham Society Newsletter features the Friends and SHT
The latest edition of Streatham Society‘s newsletter magazine (Summer 2025 No. 261) features an article on the planning application by Ruach City Church showing our architects’ vision for the theatre, plus our talk to the Society last month.
Campaign Meeting Wednesday 27th August 2025
We have our next online meeting on Wednesday 27th August 2025 at 8pm. Please register via our events page.
We’ll be discussing the campaign and the recent planning application.
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Visiting V&A Archive’s SHT Collection
The V&A museum has nine boxes of material relating to Streatham Hill Theatre in its former theatre museum archives. We have been trying to see these for a while but were delayed by COVID and the V&A archive’s move to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
However, today we visited the new V&A East Storehouse where many of the museum’s items are stored and had a chance to see the boxes in their Study Centre. It turns out that the nine boxes contain programmes and some flyers for the whole period SHT was operating as a theatre. It looks like a full set, but we didn’t have time to check them all off against the programme list!
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