London’s Barbican gets £191 million – and still needs more

The City of London has voted to spend £191m on renewing the Barbican arts centre, having abandoned plans to build a new concerthall elsewhere within its boundaries.

But £191m is just 80 percent of what is needed for the first phase of works on the 42 year-old centre. The rest will have to be raised from donors. They will start knocking on doors in 2025, for works to begin in 2027.

Chris Hayward, City Corporation policy chairman, said: ‘The Barbican Centre is a fantastic international venue with an exciting future.’ One could challenge almost every word in that sentence.

The Barbie has been, from drawingboard until now, a bottomless pit with few redeeming features.

It’s no pleasure to go there and a relief to get out. The London Symphony Orchestra are stuck there forever.