BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME THEATRE TRUST LIMITED

Registered charity 510842 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

The Trust was established to present theatrical productions, encourage the arts and promote education. As one of the world's leading presenting theatres it aims to be world-class in every respect: to present a wide-ranging, high quality, developing programme, to ensure access for all, to develop a growing & diverse audience & to complement this with a range of creative education & outreach events.

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

Latest income
£39.1m
Latest spending
£39.2m
Registered
1980
Accounts read
FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity achieved an unrestricted surplus of £391,000 for the period ended 29 March 2025, with total group funds standing at £32.8 million. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted non-designated reserves were £2.7 million, which is slightly below the stated policy target of £2.759 million, a shortfall expected to be removed by the following year's budgeted surplus.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy (held: £2.7m; policy: three months of unrestricted operating overhead plus an allowance of 20% of projected annual Southside Building cash rental income)
“The target level of unrestricted and undesignated reserves under this policy is £2,759,000 and the actual level as at 29 March 2025 was £2,691,000.” — page 17
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Birmingham Festival 2023 CIC was dissolved on 17 June 2025.
“The charity was the sole member of Birmingham Festival 2023 CIC (company registration number: 14544843). Birmingham Festival 2023 CIC was dissolved on 17 June 2025.” — page 40
“The charity holds one £1 ordinary share in Birmingham Hippodrome Productions Ltd (company registration number: 15001661) which was incorporated on 13 July 2023 and was dormant throughout the financial period.” — page 40
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Birmingham Hippodrome Productions Ltd was dormant.
“The charity was the sole member of Birmingham Festival 2023 CIC (company registration number: 14544843). Birmingham Festival 2023 CIC was dissolved on 17 June 2025.” — page 40
“The charity holds one £1 ordinary share in Birmingham Hippodrome Productions Ltd (company registration number: 15001661) which was incorporated on 13 July 2023 and was dormant throughout the financial period.” — page 40
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by RSM UK Audit LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

Property (HM Land Registry)

4 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (3 freehold); recorded price paid £8.3m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook (97,055 followers) · instagram (48K followers)

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Total income
£39.1m
Total spending
£39.2m
Cost of raising funds
£2.5m
Reserves (reported)
£6.5m
Employees
148

Reported reserves equal ~2.0 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (87% 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: 6.3% of total income — above the median for charities its size (3.8%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Trustees · trustee networks

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

Operates in: Birmingham City

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/03/2025£39.1m£39.2m
31/03/2024£37.0m£38.1m
31/03/2023£29.0m£27.6m
31/03/2022£13.2m£14.4m
31/03/2021£7.1m£7.4m

Common questions

Is BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME THEATRE TRUST LIMITED financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity achieved an unrestricted surplus of £391,000 for the period ended 29 March 2025, with total group funds standing at £32.8 million. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted non-designated reserves were £2.7 million, which is slightly below the stated policy target of £2.759 million, a shortfall expected to be removed by the following year's budgeted surplus. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by RSM UK Audit LLP.

Who funds BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME THEATRE TRUST LIMITED?

Funders whose own accounts filings name BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME THEATRE TRUST LIMITED as a grant recipient include THE MACKINTOSH FOUNDATION, THE REED FOUNDATION, WILLIAM ADLINGTON CADBURY CHARITABLE TRUST, THE HOBSON CHARITY LIMITED, THE GRIMMITT TRUST.

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

FunderYearAmountPurpose (as stated by the funder)
THE MACKINTOSH FOUNDATIONFY2024£38k
THE REED FOUNDATIONFY2022£33kChristmas Challenge
WILLIAM ADLINGTON CADBURY CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2022£20kThe Arts
THE HOBSON CHARITY LIMITEDFY2022£5kPoverty
THE GRIMMITT TRUSTFY2023£5k
THE GRIMMITT TRUSTFY2025£5k
THE SAINTBURY TRUSTFY2022£5kThe Advancement of Arts, Culture, Heritage or Science
THE GRIMMITT TRUSTFY2024£5k
THE REED FOUNDATIONFY2021£3k

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

FunderDateAmountPurpose
The National Lottery Heritage Fund11/09/2018£10k"Homecomings"
Sport England10/04/2017£9kAerobreaks Fitness Project
The National Lottery Heritage Fund25/04/2016£10k"Ten - Not Out"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund30/09/2015£10k"Birmingham Blitz: 2,241 Reasons to Remember"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund29/08/2014£77k"Birmingham Hippodrome - from Tower of Varieties to premier Lyric Theatre"

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 OCTAGON THEATRE TRUST LIMITED.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME THEATRE TRUST LIMITED£39.1m——below—no doubt
OCTAGON THEATRE TRUST LIMITED FY2025£4.2m——unclear—no doubt
THE MAYFLOWER THEATRE TRUST FY2025£28.8m£190,001 - £200,000—above—no doubt
LEICESTER THEATRE TRUST LIMITED FY2025£18.5m——unclear—no doubt
SCARBOROUGH THEATRE TRUST LIMITED FY2025£3.1m——below—noted
UNITY THEATRE TRUST FY2025£228k—0above—no doubt

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