West Bromwich arts centre The Public needs 130,000 paying customers to go through the doors of its gallery in its first year to balance the books.
But it could be months before it welcomes paying visitors despite being open since June.
It means the attraction could have just a matter of months to meet it targets to ensure it is not plunged into debt.The £57million Public building opened three months ago, but the interactive gallery stays closed due to technical issues. Chiefs say it may not open until Autumn or even Christmas.
When it does finally opens, visitors will have to face admission charges of £6.95 for adults and £4.95 for children.
The Public Gallery Ltd, which runs the gallery, confirmed the projected visitors figure yesterday.
A team of experts has been working around the clock to get the interactive exhibits up and running.
Public Gallery Ltd have remained tight-lipped about the effect the delayed opening will have in its finances.
A spokeswoman said: “Although the gallery income has been delayed, we will be reviewing our trading performance over time and will then be in a position to assess our overall financial situation.”
It has categorically denied it is in danger of going into administration.
Sandwell Council owns The Public building, leasing out the gallery space. The terms and conditions of the lease are still being sorted out.
The building has been at the centre of controversy since well before it was launched, having exceeded costs by more than £14 million and opening two years later than was first expected.
23 Comments
While everyday people struggle with record food, energy and mortgage prices be assured that Sandwell and Dudley council feel it is appropriate to waste £40-50m on a white elephant project such as this.
Nobody wanted it and it has no hope of being a long-term success.
Where’s all those swimming pools and sports centres to boost our chances in 2012 Olympics? Oh…I forgot, it’s the LONDON Olympics - nothing to do with the rest of the UK of course.
More council waste. And it’s your money they’re wasting.
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why think of putting something like this in West brom?
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An utter waste of money - heads should roll. This is an expensive white elephant.
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Bring on the trumpets
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what a stupid place for this type of gallery!! of course they will lose revenue ..turn it into a netto & it will make millions!!! lol
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57 million spent on a crazy idea by our useless councillors,we need jobs in sandHELL not willy wonka day outs,factory after factory are closing down week in week out,locals won’t have the 6.95 to enter this big white elephant it’s bread and butter thats what we’ll be apending our hard earned cash on.
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best thing is to reposess it,then give us the facilities we do need
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i went to the opening weekend in june. what a good day wasted, the exebition after waiting 4 hours to get in is crap which idiots are going to pay them prices to see that crap. i was in the exebition for 6 minutes. Sandwell council needs shooting for supporting it.
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sack the councillors
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David, The Public has absolutely nothing to do with Dudley Council. It is Sandwell councillors who decided to spend their tax payers money on a pointless vanity project, rather than improving the appalling services that cause them to be rated one of the worst run councils in Britain.
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I’m sure the attendance figures will be fudged to show that pro rata, the amount of visitors WOULD have been on target so therefore they’ll just need a couple more million to get through the “challenging” opening period.
And the people of Sandwell will be forced to cough up yet again
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If they put the councillors who voted for it inside in stocks, I bet they’d be full to capacity for the next week, and they could probably make a huge profit on the tomatoes or wet sponges to throw at ‘em.
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This could have gone towards a university..something Sandwell does not have even now, in 2008.
A digraceful mess and an insult to the people who can barely afford food, clothing or heat let alone fritter it away on sillyness like this. If you want visitors..don’t rip them off; get the revenue back through franchising and advertising, or build on a lower scale. If they can do in Europe, so can you, Sandwell Council.
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I’ve said this from day one - I am not willing to spend almost 7 pounds to enter this facility. We’ve already paid for it. Further, if I want propaganda (especially around election time), or politically-correct nonsense then I’ll switch the television on. The people of Sandwell should have free access to facility, then you might start earning the respect you so badly crave instead of making a complete mockery of this area and its people.
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what a wast of our money we are run by a load of money grabbing egitts turn it into a night club and bring some life to westbrom name the peaple on this council who are spending our money on this then sack the lot of them
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Is there any way of turning it into a prison for wasteful councillors? Because then it would be packed full.
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if they are not getting any paying customers who is paying the staff already employed there i will rephrase that question when are we going to pay the staff they must be bored out of their skulls with nothing to do i believe a public inquiry should be set up into this disgusting state of affairs i have not heard from the coucilors who instigated this pile of junk ie bob badham you only see them when they want reelecting when are the people of west bromwich going to open there eyes and see that they have been taken for avery long ride wake up before its too late
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Geoff, your comment “bob badham you only see them when they want re-electing, when are the people of west bromwich going to open there eyes and see that they have been taken for a very long ride? wake up before its too late” a short while back the residents of Sandwell, were given the opportunity to remove the Labour Council responsible for this disaster, they didn’t, they re-elected the same councillors back into office, I just wish people would stop blaming Sandwell’s Labour Council, for what the people of Sandwell are responsible for, the majority of the people of Sandwell want this, just why they do is beyond me, but that’s how democracy works.
Jim of Bearwood.
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Nobody wanted it in the first place what total waste of our money. Regardless of what pathetic Party was in charge it would still not make me want to go and spend nearly £20 on for a family of 4. The schools in this borough need a major overhaul yet it seems to be being put off yet again Its a total farce
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I trust the Chief Executive of Sandwell Council, Allison Fraser, enjoys her all-expenses paid trip to International Drive in Florida. The purpose of the trip is to teach her to become “more likeable and able to like herself”. I’m sure it’s a wise choice of Council Taxpayers money.
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Michelle, your comment “Nobody wanted it in the first place” people obviously did want it, and it was obviously the majority of the Sandwell borough that wanted it, if they didn’t want it they wouldn’t have re-elected the same people back into office, sorry Michelle your like me, in the minority, I would much rather see our kids attending modern up to date schools with sports facilities, I would have loved to walk down a recently cleaned street, I would have loved to have seen rainwater drains cleaned out instead of seeing roads and properties flooded, but the majority of our neighbours must enjoy seeing their money being spent on a big black box with wonky windows, they must enjoy seeing their inflated council tax payments being spent on providing Local Councillors with private pensions, while they are struggling to pay their bills and providing their children with food.
The popular story about India is that we the British controlled the Indian population when we occupied their country, we didn’t we were there by consent.
I forget the actual figures but there were about 250 million, Indian population at the time of our occupation, the total number of British occupants were something 200.000, now how possibly could 200.000 people control 250 million?
The same rule applies to Sandwell Councillors, how can a few hundred councillors defy the wishes of the Sandwell Taxpayers? they cant, they do it with the consent of the people, its what people want.
Jim of Bearwood.
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When all is said and done, the tragedy of the Public is the monetary waste. Further questions should be asked, in the strongest fashion, about how the money was spent.
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WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE PLANNED PROPOSAL OF A LEISURE CENTRE/SWIMMING POOL IN WEST BROMWICH. SHOULD HAVE USED LAND FOR IT OR THE CAR PARK OPPOSITE NETTO. THE PUBLIC WILL TURN OUT TO BE A COMPLETE WASTE OF OUR MONEY AS USUAL. EVEN LITTLE OLDBURY HAS A LEISURE CENTRE
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