THE PLAYHOUSE THEATRE CHELTENHAM

Registered charity 1196217 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

To advance the education of the public in the subject of Art, Music, Theatre, Writing and Dance.

Objects

THE OBJECTS OF THE CIO ARE.1. TO ADVANCE PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE ARTS OF DRAMA, LITERATURE,DANCE MUSIC AND SINGING THROUGH THE PRODUCTION OF PLAYS ANDOTHER ARTISTIC WORKS.2. TO PROMOTE THE PROVISION OF RECREATIONAL FACILITIES AND OTHER LEISURE TIME OCCUPATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC WTHOUT DISTINCTION OF SEX, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, RACE OR OF POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS OR OTHER OPINIONS, BY ASSOCIATING TOGETHER LOCAL AUTHORITIES, VOLUNTARY AND OTHER ORGANISATIONS IN A COMMON EFFORT TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO SUCH FACILITIES IN THE INTERESTS OF SOCIAL WELFARE WITH THE OBJECT OF IMPROVING THEIR CONDITIONS OF LIFE.3. TO RESTORE AND PRESERVE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC THE PLAYHOUSE THEATRE IN CHELTENHAM BEING A BUILDING OF HISTORIC ARCHTECTURAL HERITAGE AND CONSTRUCTIONAL INTEREST.

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Cheltenham, South West, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity recorded a small surplus of £2,331 against total income of £894,817, resulting in a net loss of £2,702 after non-cash items. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves stood at £11,788, which is significantly below the stated policy target of approximately £100,000. The independent examiner noted that while liquidity pressures exist due to a high cost-base, the charity remains a going concern following recent cost-reduction measures.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Cheltenham Playhouse (matched by registered charity number).

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/08/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~0.2 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (67% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.1% of total income — below the median for charities its size (4.9%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (26/10/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Robert William Gillchair · trustee of 1 other charity
• Alexander John Lewer
• Andrew Richard Holt
• Ellen Rhiannon Garbutt
• Keir Richard Kille
• Wendy Lavender

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Gloucestershire

Income and spending

Common questions

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with WOMENS PLAYHOUSE TRUST.

• WOMENS PLAYHOUSE TRUST income £119k
• WICKHAM THEATRE TRUST income £44k
• THE PLAYHOUSE FOUNDATION income £112k
• THE PLAY HOUSE (B'HAM) LTD income £167k
• THE CHIPSTEAD PLAYERS income £134k
• WORKINGTON PLAYGOERS CLUB income £44k

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.