The Yorkshire Post has launched a campaign to save a local theatre, which has been the home of amateur arts for decades.

Leeds Civic Theatre is under threat after city councillors backed a proposal to bid for lottery funding for a new two-centre £20m museum, to be housed patrly in the Leeds Institute building, home of the Civic Theatre.

Amateur dramatic and operatic groups are up in arms at the proposal and are demanding to know why a thriving theatre must be sacrificed.

The theatre, which opened in the 1920s, has become the only place in the city centre that offers amateur groups an affordable venue to put on shows to a large audience.

Reg Vinnicombe, vice-president of the National Operatic and Dramatic Association and council member for the Yorkshire region, said it would be a crying shame to lose the theatre after so many years.

He said: “Leeds Civic is well-known as a place for the amateur societies.

“I would have thought more people go and watch amateur productions and drama than will ever go to a museum. I’ve nothing against museums but there must be another suitable building.”

Leeds Council has pledged that a new venue will be offered, but there are fears of an inferior facility outside the city centre.

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