The Brunton Theatre – Colin Beattie’s View

Thursday October 24th 2024

Brunton-Theatre-Musselburgh

The Brunton Theatre in Musselburgh.

Colin Beattie MSP, Midlothian North & Musselburgh, writes his monthly column for Midlothian View

To look forward and make the right decisions for our future, sometimes we need to look back.

John Brunton opened the Wireworks in Musselburgh in 1876, making specialist wires, and known for being one of the few manufacturing companies, of their time, employing women. The company went from strength to strength and when Brunton died in 1937, his son John D Brunton took over. Although, under different ownership, Bruntons remain in Musselburgh to this day. Making aircraft components amongst other things.

John D Brunton took over from his father and when he died in 1951, he left a bequest of £700,000 to be used to provide halls for the use of the community. Doesn’t sound an awful lot in today’s money but equates to £18,578,157.80 using the bank of England’s inflation calculator.

John D Brunton did this because he was a huge fan of musicals and wanted to see his dream of musical and amateur dramatics being open to everyone in the town. He died before The Brunton was built but I think he would have been proud to see that his investment into the town had made the arts accessible to all.

This retrospective view is why we must protect The Brunton and, by extension, the arts for the people of Musselburgh and beyond.

The Council of the time put money to the building and added their offices. They decided on design, fabric, fittings etc. It is simply not good enough for the decision to now be pull it down and relocate.

The gift was given to the people of Musselburgh, for the arts.

A theatre and arts venue are a huge asset. A draw to pull people into our communities. Fringe By the Sea announced recently, that the festival they held brought an estimated £10 million additional revenue into the local economy. I can’t find any impact assessments from ELC to highlight how much additional revenue The Brunton brought into the Musselburgh area, and maybe that is the issue.

The building itself is a crumbling asset now. When it was a lively theatre hosting the best of Scottish music, comedy, and drama, it was an economic magnet attracting visitors and with them, money. All flowing into the local economy of the poorest area in our county. It is simply not good enough to say we will use a multitude of venues scattered across all areas as a replacement.

Economic investment must be attracted to the poorest areas in our county if we are to ever lift them out of that poverty.

If East Lothian Council must demolish the building, they must also replace that Common Good asset for the same people who have lost it. The people of Musselburgh.

If John D Brunton was donating that gift today, it would be £18,578,157.80. If his money had sat in a bank account unused, it would be worth far more. He did not choose the design that consisted of RAAC. He did not agree to share the building with the Council and therefore make the building and land alienable.

He donated in good faith and the spirit of the Common Good should be upheld. Musselburgh has a theatre; Musselburgh must have a theatre when all this debacle is finished. Anything less goes against every fibre of the Common Good and shows clear intent from decision makers regarding investment into our poorest areas.

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