The Coventry Society is pleased to learn that the Litten Tree Building community arts venue in Warwick Road has re-opened.
The LTB had become the home of artists and creators across the city during City of Culture year but had to close in February when the Litten Tree pub gave up its lease to the council. Alan Denyer has been negotiating with the Council since then to get the building re-opened.
Following successful negotiations, the building re-opened to the public on Saturday 13th May and will be open daily from 12 noon to 4.00 p.m.
The project has also taken over the ground floor of the former pub which gives it good disabled access.
The building is due to be demolished as part of the Council’s City Centre South scheme, but the Council has granted a free-use lease until the end of November 2023.
Alan Denyer, who runs LTB, said “This is such great news for the community – the closure of the pub back in February meant the Showrooms had to vacate – but we reached out to the Council about LTB taking over the building, and they’ve been really supportive.
“LTB is funded by local volunteers, and supports local arts with free exhibition space – visitors love the ever-changing mix of local arts, music, heritage and culture on show around this interesting old building, so it’s great to be opening again. We’ve also now been able to include the ex-pub ground floor space too – which is really exciting as it gives us some great new exhibition areas, with disabled access.
“The ‘meanwhile-use’ lease gives us time to search for a new home – and continue with our daily 12 til 4 openings to the public. We’ll also be able to add to the exciting programme of culture events we’ve delivered here since August 2021.”
More than 15,000 people have visited LTB since it opened in August 2021. Approximately 700 artists, musicians and creative practitioners have been engaged with the showroom, taking advantage of free display space and the opportunity to host events. The Coventry Society also benefited from use of the building when we were made homeless.
