Is it curtains for Oldham Coliseum?

Dear readers — four months ago (if you can believe it) we published one of our most successful articles of the year: a scoop about Oldham Coliseum, the town’s beloved theatre, and how management failed to explain over £30k in trustee expenses.

The theatre had been struggling for some time. In 2022 it lost its funding from Arts Council England, and if that wasn’t bad enough, unaffordable fire doors forced the almost 140-year-old theatre to shut down for good. Since then it’s regained the funding, and operates as an on-the-road theatre company, though attendance has reportedly been poor.

So the article began with a theory for Oldham Coliseum’s ongoing troubles: that the theatre had been cursed ever since an accident with a prop knife in a 1947 production of Macbeth led to the death of one of their actors.

Well, at the end of last month the theatre decided to put on another production of Macbeth, and it’s all gone wrong again. This time it might lead to the demise of the theatre for good. Sources once close to the theatre have expressed serious concerns about the upcoming Arts Council England funding bid. “Their first show opened late and got one star in the Guardian. The second show opened late and got awful reviews, and this one is cancelled.”

That’s all to come. But first, you'll all be glad (we hope) to hear that Jack and Ophira are back with the latest episode of The Run of The Mill: our trying-to-be-weekly podcast. In it, the pair talk stumbling across Neville Neville's grave (and Ophira recites a little song about him); Manchester's first statue of a Black Mancunian; how to spell the word 'bar'; and most importantly — we hear from our new mayor Bev Craig, speaking with Joshi at The Mill's inaugral Future of Greater Manchester summit. That's on Spotify below, or wherever else you listen to your podcasts here.

Onto the Coliseum in a second, but first, in other Oldham news…

Former Reform leader quits amidst investigation into “at best, the misappropriation of monies”

Former Reform leader in Oldham Lewis Quigg, who stood down as a councillor last month, did so amid a standards complaint about misappropriated councillor allowances, The Mill can reveal. Senior Reform figures who raised the complaints described Quigg’s actions as “at best, the misappropriation of monies”.

Quigg was Reform’s first leader in Oldham defecting to the party from the Conservatives last September. He oversaw the growth of Oldham Reform from three to 16 councillors in May’s local elections. In September of this year, The Mill reported on Quigg’s resignation as the leader of Oldham Reform, amid an internal dispute over committee responsibilities.

Three senior Oldham Reform officials, and an email chain which The Mill has seen, confirm that Quigg used a document titled ‘Group Levy Mandate’ – signed by all 16 Reform councillors sitting at the time – to instruct council officials to deduct 15% from councillors’ monthly allowances. But two councillors have told The Mill that they never signed the form, and we have seen email and WhatsApp screenshots showing other Reform councillors questioning the deduction.

Emails also show that Quigg stood down from his role as councillor within one working day of the council contacting him to discuss the matter.

When we approached Quigg, he said “the allegations you have presented to me are not accurate,” and has threatened legal action should The Mill publish them. Oldham Reform’s current leader Paul Taylor has also denied the allegations, and Reform UK didn’t respond to our various attempts to ask them about this. 

Quigg proposed the levy on councillor allowances in early August, telling elected members the money would be used to build a pot of money for campaign material. Reform councillors disagreed with this, but agreed to a £50 contribution. Seemingly, it was too late. According to party members, Quigg only raised the idea of a levy less than 24 hours before their August councillors allowance was paid, which already included the 15% deduction. The Mill has seen a copy of a councillor’s payslip confirming this, as well as WhatsApp and email correspondence within the party discussing the deduction and questioning why it had happened. 

One councillor told The Mill that they would never have agreed to a 15% levy, as it would be an “extraordinary” amount of money for campaign material. 

Quigg explained to his team in WhatsApp group messages that council officers “have cocked it up”. However, in an email exchange seen by The Mill, when Reform councillor Mark Ruthven approached the council to question the payment, they referred him to the form containing the signatures of all 16 Reform councillors below a text which reads “we the undersigned, hereby authorise you to deduct 15% of our allowances…” followed by a space left blank for bank details.

Oldham Council disputes Quigg’s assertion that it made a mistake, with an official telling us that it only processes group deductions "where it has received the appropriate instruction and authorisation through the established process.”

The Reform councillors The Mill has spoken with have confirmed the money was returned to their accounts within the space of two weeks. Quigg did not answer when asked where the money was held before it was returned.

The matter was eventually referred to Reform UK central officials. Two party members have also told us that Quigg was then removed from council meetings and committees as of early September. Quigg quit the party to stand as an Independent on 22 October — Reform UK told the MEN that Quigg had “resigned from the Reform group mid-investigation.” A senior member of the party at the time of Quigg’s resignation has told The Mill that Quigg had been given a date to meet with central party officers to explain his actions, and instead chose to leave Reform UK. Quigg did not address this question when we put it to him. Reform UK have not responded to our various attempts to contact them.

The day after his departure from Reform, a senior party member raised a complaint about the financial deduction with Oldham Council’s governance officers, writing that the alleged unsolicited deduction of 15% was “at best, the misappropriation of monies”. The council outlined that they would approach Mr Quigg about the matter on Friday 23 October. On Monday 26 October, he resigned as a councillor, citing “immense pressure” on him and his family.

End of the road for the Coliseum?

It’s been 10 days since Oldham Coliseum’s major production of Macbeth was cancelled without explanation. The production was the theatre's first since its disastrous A Christmas Fair late last year, which suffered a string of cancelled performances and sound issues. 

It was also the theatre’s first production since The Mill’s investigation into the troubles facing the currently homeless theatre, including more than £31,000 in unexplained trustee expenses and claims of staff not speaking to one another.

Hello! It’s Alec, the writer of today's Oldham double whopper. To read on, just click the button below, but first let me tell you why stories such as these are sometimes paywalled on The Mill.

When somebody is hiding a piece of information that they don't want revealed to the public, it takes a lot of digging to get to the truth. Both of today's scoops have taken a huge amount of time on the phone, sending emails, convincing sources to share information, verifying details, and running things by our lawyers. Both of these pieces have seemed on the edge of falling through several times over, at various junctions.

But thanks to your support, Mill journalist such as myself, Jack, Ophira, Lucy and Ethan have the time and resources to get to the bottom of these hidden truths - where no one else in Greater Manchester can.

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