‘This is not sustainable’: London’s Gate theatre to close after nearly 50 years

Formerly based above a Notting Hill pub, the theatre earned a reputation for radical plays with new talent yet had a 100% loss of Arts Council England funding in 2022

The Gate theatre in London, which has punched above its weight ever since it was founded above a Notting Hull pub in 1979, is to close permanently next month.

The announcement comes four years after the theatre had what it described as a “devastating” 100% cut to its Arts Council England funding of just over £300,000, losing its status as a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO). The Gate had relocated a few months earlier to a new, more accessible home at Theatro Technis in north London. In 2024 it announced it was no longer viable to be based year-round in one building and began to work peripatetically with partner venues.