Source
Gift_of_Yahweh•

I thought it had already been agreed to be an arts hub

3
DirectedAcyclicGraphOP•

It has generally been agreed by everyone except the people who matter which is the Ministry of Justice.

7
bungle_bogs•

Hence Banksy's mural. Practically everyone that it actually affects and actually gives a shit, wants it to be an Arts Hub.

There is so many good reasons why it should be an Arts Hub that it almost seems deliberate.

Now, I understand that MoJ are duty bound to obtain the "best deal" for the Tax Payer, but that cannot simply ignore the ongoing benefit.

What are the stand points of the two incumbent MPs?

3
Cautious_Leg_9555•

I visited it when the Oscar Wilde exhibition was on in 2016.

It was a great exhibition but I absolutely hated being in the building. It's horribly oppressive. I was never as happy to see a DFS as I was looking across the road when I left.

Clearly I would not make a happy prisoner. But it's a nasty place. If you were designing an ideal arts centre you would never in a thousand years choose that building.

3
discovigilantes•

That's where money comes in. Retain the opressive nature of a prison but make it welcoming art hub. Juxtaposition.

Malmaision turned Oxford Jail into a hotel, i think we can do arts :)

3
cavershamox•

The problem is the money actually comes from selling the whole site for, oh I don’t know, say some more blocks of flats.

1
discovigilantes•

I thought the £20m has been "raised" already through donors and grants so it wouldn't be from developers

1
Cautious_Leg_9555•

How many of the people who say it should be an Arts Centre have ever set foot inside the building? Does anyone have any plans or drawings for the project?

it seems to me that if you ask people if they want an Arts Centre or more bloody flats they are bound to say Arts Centre. But that only gets us so far.

1
discovigilantes•

Does it matter if they have set foot inside? And does it matter that they choose Arts over flats? But again that doesn't matter. Its up to the council/private organisation (whoever has put up the bid) to turn it into something. And to be fair there is a severe lack of culture in Reading so anything along those lines is going to be a damn sight better putting more flats where there are already lots of unaffordable flats going up.

3
Gift_of_Yahweh•

Yeah I went to that too, and I second your opinion that I wouldn’t like to stay

1