n 1 58 40 w 50.71806 n 1.97778 w 50.71806 ; 1.97778 lighthouse type arts centre theatre and cinema founded poole in 1978 headquarters poole website http www.lighthousepoole.co.uk the lighthouse is an arts centre in poole dorset england . according to the arts council of england it is the largest arts centre in the united kingdom outside london . 1 it has a 669 seat theatre a 1 500 seat concert hall a 150 seat studio a 105 seat cinema an image lab media suite a large gallery for photography and digital art a restaurant and three function rooms . the concert hall is home to the bournemouth symphony orchestra . 1 2 contents 1 history development and funding 2 programming and types of shows 2.1 theatre 2.2 concert hall 2.3 studio 2.4 cinema 3 location 4 references 5 external links history development and funding edit the poole arts centre towngate theatre wessex hall and ashley cinema opened in april 1978 to serve the south east dorset conurbation . the venue closed in may 2002 for an 8.5 million radical refurbishment and overhaul . this was paid for by arts council lottery awards the borough of poole and through private donations . it reopened as lighthouse poole s centre for the arts in october 2002 . the refurbishment added new extensive facilities including a modern cinema expanded concert hall and photography labs . other additions included expanded customer facilities and a new restaurant . the lighthouse receives additional funding from the arts council england . in 2005 06 230 000 in 2006 07 they received 330 000 in 2007 08 they will receive a total of 339 080 . 1 the lighthouse is currently owned by the poole arts trust ltd. programming and types of shows edit lighthouse provides a wide ranging programme including theatre edit mid scale musical tours such as fame and blood brothers opera annually from english touring opera dance both contemporary and classical ballet plays ranging from classics such as romeo and juliet an inspector calls to more modern day kitchen sink dramas pantomime cinderella for 2006 7 starring bobby crush peter duncan & brian cant concert hall edit weekly performances on wednesday nights from the bournemouth symphony orchestra regular performances from the wessex youth orchestra world music bands and artists have included kiss the damned david essex the who ultravox the clash kate bush the smiths oasis public image ltd tina turner kings of leon u2 bryan ferry the wonder stuff blondie paul weller the teardrop explodes king crimson new order siouxsie and the banshees page & plant east 17 wham the cult rufus wainwright kirsty maccoll the stranglers doves ian brown the style council fun loving criminals jazz studio edit small scale children s theatre small scale adult theatre cinema edit eclectic mix of world cinema and recent releases normally presented 4 8 weeks after general release . location edit the lighthouse is situated just outside the main shopping centre high street in poole . however it is only a short walk from the centre of town . the venue is easily accessible by public transport 10 minute walk from poole railway station for trains to london waterloo southampton winchester and weymouth amongst others and is opposite poole bus station for local services across the town and into bournemouth christchurch salisbury and swanage and also by the road network within reasonable travel time from such towns as dorchester weymouth yeovil salisbury christchurch bournemouth lymington southampton and blandford . there is adequate car parking for visitors to the lighthouse theatre in the dolphin centre multi storey which is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week . references edit a b c the lighthouse about us the arts council of england accessed 10 12 07 bournemouth symphony orchestra accessed 10 12 07 external links edit official lighthouse website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title the lighthouse poole & oldid 744462353 categories theatres in dorsetarts centres in englandvisitor attractions in dorsetbuildings and structures in poolevisitor attractions in poolehidden categories coordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages fran ais edit links this page was last modified on 15 october 2016 at 11 02 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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