A POPULAR Barrow theatre is to introduce a booking fee on all tickets as part of a budget strategy which could save the council £142,000.

For years, the Forum in Duke Street has attracted families from across Furness and beyond, offering a diverse range of events and activities from comedy shows to ballroom dancing classes.

A review of the venue, which is partly ran on subsidies from Barrow Borough Council, found that £142,000 of savings could be made through applying a small booking fee on each purchase as well as maximising the centre's space.

Keith Johnson is the assistant director for community services and is heavily involved with The Forum.

He said: "Most theatres do charge a booking fee and we are somewhat different.

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"One way we can reduce the subsidy is to introduce this fee but we don't want to make acts unaffordable for people.

"We are trying to to pitch the fee at a level which doesn't put people off."

"We've been talking about doing things differently to save the money which is needed.

"Elected councillors and staff have been in contact with other theatres owned by local authorities, which have had to make substantial savings to keep up with budgets.

"Lots of people regularly use the Forum, I'm one of them and there's no alternative in Barrow but it doesn't have to be there, lots of other councils don't fund this type of thing."

In addition to the fee, the amount of which is yet to be confirmed, space within the building has been set aside to house around 40 members of staff who will fill positions in a service returning to the council from an external contractor.

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From October the Revenues and Benefits team will move in to the Duke Street space, following the end of the current contract with Liberata UK.

Mr Johnson added: "Despite the town hall being a big building there's just not enough room for them all to be housed in one place.

"This will make better use of the space."