Award-winning community theatre faces permanent closure after landlord hands the space to a commercial hospitality operator
Arches Lane Theatre, the independent 100-seat venue on the Battersea Power Station estate, is to close permanently after its landlord, Battersea Power Station Development Company (BPSDC), exercised a break clause to replace it with a commercial operator. This comes just over a year after BPSDC awarded the space to non-profit Kibo Productions through a public competitive tender.
The theatre is run by Artistic Director Sharon Willems, named Best Cultural Champion at the 2026 Wandsworth Women’s Enterprise Awards, and Executive Director Leo Bacica. The space has a long cultural history: Arch 756 opened in 2017 as a civic arts hub launched by HRH The Princess Royal, later became The Turbine Theatre (original home of My Son’s A Queer before its West End transfer), and relaunched as Arches Lane Theatre under Kibo Productions in Spring 2025.
The venue was fully programmed through the end of 2026, including the Wave Writers free playwriting programme for local women of African and Caribbean backgrounds. All autumn and winter programming is now cancelled, with live performances concluding 27 September. The space goes to a commercial hospitality operator trading as “Off-Grid,” whose operating company was incorporated on 15 May 2026, nearly two weeks before Kibo Productions were notified of the termination.
Kibo Productions has launched an emergency crowdfunding campaign to cover the costs of dismantling and storing specialist theatre equipment. Support it at crowdfunder.co.uk/p/arches-lane-theatre-emergency-campaign.
For tickets to remaining performances: archeslanetheatre.com
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