The history of Theatre Royal Winchester

Find out the history behind Theatre Royal Winchester.  

Built originally as The Market Hotel - providing accommodation for farmers heading to the Corn Exchange next door (now the Winchester Discovery Centre), hear how the venue became a cinema during the World War I, was saved from demolition in the 1970s and became a live performance space.  

Watch online as Deryck Newland, Chief Executive of Play to the Crowd the charity that runs Theatre Royal Winchester,  chats to Phil Yates, who was instrumental to saving the building in the 70s, about the history of the building and the challenges the venue now faces due to the covid crisis.