POOLE'S Lighthouse Arts Centre has announced its partial reopening – six months to do the day after it was forced to close because of coronavirus.

The centre, which received an emergency Arts Council England grant of £255,038 earlier this month, will open again to the public on Tuesday, September 15.

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is expected to resume rehearsals in the concert hall around this date as well.

Initially this reopening will be limited, with just the cinema, the Beacon cafe and the ticket office opening. But there will also be some courses, classes and behind-closed doors rehearsals taking place.

Lighthouse chief executive Elspeth McBain said: "We’re thrilled and delighted to be able to welcome back even a few of our regular users to this wonderful building that we have all missed so much.

“Lighthouse has been in hibernation since March, but our small team has been working incredibly hard behind the scenes to be ready for this happy day when we can open our doors again and get the lights back on.

"This is just the first step and it feels like a giant leap forward, but until we get clear guidance from government it is impossible to say when we can welcome back audiences to live performances. We remain hopeful that this will be some time this year.

“In the meantime, we are doing all we can to ensure that our resident orchestra, arts partners and the community can access some if not all of our facilities."

Until confirmation of the Arts Council England emergency grant, the Poole arts centre had faced an uncertain future.

While this grant will keep the centre afloat until the autumn, management still awaits details of how the Government's £1.57 billion rescue package for arts and culture will apply to them.

Meanwhile, BSO chief executive Dougie Scarfe said: “We are delighted that Lighthouse, our home venue and the place in which we create, rehearse and perform our work is to reopen in September.

"This wonderful news enables the BSO to finalise plans to bring live music back to our audiences and communities who have missed us so much.

"I’d like to thank Elspeth McBain and her team for everything they are doing to reopen the building and to Arts Council England for their support of Lighthouse through their emergency response funds.”

Lighthouse plans to publish an interim programme of work for the autumn within the next few weeks and a decision about pantomime will follow soon after