Standalone Farm and Broadway Cinema to reopen this summer

After four months of closure, Standalone Farm and Broadway Cinema will reopen in August, the Heritage Foundation has announced.

Standalone Farm is gearing up to open its doors on Saturday 1 August, with a focus on offering families an affordable place to visit during the school holidays. The opening weekend will be exclusively for Annual Pass holders, with all other visitors welcome from Monday 3 August. Tickets will need to be booked in advance and visitors will be offered specific timeslots with reduced pricing to reflect some of the restrictions in place.

Meanwhile, Broadway Cinema will welcome its customers back on Monday 24 August. The team are finalising a programme of films including blockbusters, documentaries and event cinema screenings from National Theatre, Royal Opera House and more. The full programme and booking options will be released in the coming weeks.

Jason Valentine, Venues Manger at the Heritage Foundation, said: “After a tough few months for the Foundation and our venues, we are thrilled to be able to open our much-loved farm and cinema again. The support we have received from our customers and the local community during this period has been overwhelming, it has really kept us going. We are so thankful, and the team are looking forward to welcoming everyone back.”

Broadway Cinema and Theatre, Letchworth

Standalone Farm will close in September to begin its improvement programme for the spring 2021 season.  As Broadway Theatre is subsidised, theatre performances won’t make a return until late 2021. Jason continued: “Things will look a little different to our visitors as we implement new COVID-19 secure measures – we will have a one-way system at the farm and some of our regular features won’t be accessible, that’s why we have reduced the ticket prices. At Broadway we have implemented social distanced seating and additional cleaning will be in place. We have reviewed our operating model and realise that due to the subsidy required from the foundation for our theatre programme, we are needing to move away from theatre until late 2021, so for now, we will be focusing on a great cinema programme.”

Staff at the Foundation have worked hard behind the scenes to achieve the ‘We’re Good To Go’ industry standard. They have also followed government and industry COVID-19 guidelines to have new measures in place to maintain cleanliness and aid social distancing, details of which can be found on the websites.

Visitors are encouraged to keep an eye on the social media over the coming weeks for further updates and announcements on reopening and booking details.

Last week, the Heritage Foundation announced that some of its services would be put on hold or permanently closed due to the impact of COVID-19 on its income. Read more