Entertainment Swindon

The centre of town could be getting a much needed injection from the government to bring back the towns beating heart and give a buzzing vibe through arts and culture with a major new entertainment venue.

But… We have been hearing for the past two years about the council plans to build a new entertainment venue, dubbed the ‘ABBA Stage’, first promised we would have a new opened venue in 2024, two years on we have a new promise, and the date we’ve been given is 2028.

The plan to build on the former site of the towns former bus station has it seems come a more realistic step closer, with the £20million government funding, but when we are constantly promised dates for the opening of the likes of the Oasis and the new Wyvern, followed by excuses by the council leadership, we will have to wait and see.

Even with the government stepping in with £20million which comes from the Government’s Growth Mission Fund, which supports projects which can promote local growth and create jobs, there is still another £25million to find for the project by the cash strapped council.

If the council does find the rest of the funding, the venue could finally give Swindon the opportunity to welcome larger touring shows that currently cant be hosted the much smaller Wyvern Theatre, this would not only create economic growth for the town, but also make the town more attractive to people out of Swindon to come to the town, instead of Swindonian’s heading to larger venues in Bristol and Oxford, and even taking the journey to London.

A town the size of Swindon should really be attracting visitors and big shows into our town, so a 2000 capacity venue could really bring back a buzzing positive vibe to the town which when talking to the towns residents, has been lost.

With a bigger entertainment venue, the already open Bus Boulevard and the various redevelopments in the town, more businesses are likely to plant roots, offering the people of Swindon more employment opportunities, as well as bringing back that spark and vibe the town had back in the 90s. You can already see a much more open space, lighter, cleaner, relaxed area surrounding the new boulevard and Zurich building, a place that with a blue sky above, you actually want to sit down and have a bit of lunch.

Swindon has always been an innovated town over the decades, a place where people have wanted to live, work and play. It’s been a long time in waiting, but other plans such as redeveloping the bottom of town as a cultural centre, could really bring the beating heart back to the town.

The council want to start the design and planning process this year ahead of construction in 2027 and opening in 2028. The plan talked about over the past couple years that blends Swindon’s industrial heritage with contemporary design, inspired by the ABBA Stage in London with a flexible multi-use venue capable of both standing and seated events is just what the town has been screaming for for years. Though the idea of a venue constructed like the ABBA venue which is a temporary construction does throw up red flags, with the town needing a new venue constructed just a few years down the line. A permanent building is needed over the speed of a temporary construction building, just to open the doors in 2028.

Could we be witnessing a final move into forward gear, foot off the brakes for the regeneration of our town? With action finally replacing talk? Swindon’s geographical position alone makes it a destination, now we just need the infrastructure and the return of pride by all Swindonian’s in the town. Hopefully, we will start to see positive talk of our town on the various Swindon community Facebook Groups and in our local paper, instead of the constant barrage of negative clickbait headlines to bring in revenue.

Swindon already in the last few years, and certainly since coming out of covid has probably the best live music scene in the South West, you could have once said Bristol 10years ago, but not today, today, Swindon is thriving on the live music scene, now we just need an entertainment venue worthy of the size of our town and a rethinking from the council to step back from their closed uneducated vision for the Oasis and re-open the Oasis with a rebuilt multi-use sports hall to give the town, not only music, arts and culture, but also major sporting events, such as Professional Boxing and Roller Derby.