Earlier this year it was reported that ESL had been negotiating with a consortium to use Leicester Haymarket Theatre as an esports arena.
Now the theatre’s £3 million revamp project has been given the all-clear.
Earlier this month, it was confirmed that the consortium behind the project had signed a 30-year lease to sub-let the building from the council, as reported by The Leicester Mercury.
Upon hearing the news, Esports News UK reached out to the Haymarket Consortium and ESL for their views.
It seems the parties have agreed it’s too early to talk about their esports plans – for now.
However, it’s expected that the 800-seat venue may be used to host esports tournaments of some kind.
“We are relieved to have signed the lease because now we can get cracking with restoring the theatre.”
Haymarket Consortium
ESL UK MD James Dean is also following the theatre’s Twitter page.
Last year, ESL opened its own ESL Studio 1 in Leicester.
The Mercury reports that the consortium hope to restore the theatre over the next six months. It will be primarily used as a performance, music and comedy venue starting from this autumn.
The consortium is holding a free event at City Hall on Thursday April 27th where they will announce a new logo and network with interested parties.
Consortium spokesperson Chris Knight commented: “We are relieved to have signed the lease because now we can get cracking with restoring the theatre.
“We have a big job on but we’re well into the enabling works and things are falling into place.”
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
