Banbury's Mill Arts Centre will remain closed until end of June to repair water damaged stage

The theatre has extended its period of closure for another three months after discovering that the damage caused by floods is worse than expected.

It originally had to close due to damage caused by flooding in January, but staff at the centre had hoped the repair work would have been completed by now.

The team at the venue initially thought a simple repair was possible, but after further inspections, it was revealed more extensive repair work would be needed.

Insurers who work for Oxfordshire County Council, who own the building, are progressing the repairs and working out a timeline for the necessary repair work.

A spokesperson for the Mill Arts Centre said: "However, at this stage, we understand that the programme of work is likely to take in the region of a further three months to complete.

“We have therefore needed to take the difficult decision to make alternative arrangements for all events scheduled to take place in the auditorium until the end of June."

The theatre is now arranging to relocate or reschedule the affected events so that most of them can still go ahead and are working on finding a temporary alternative venue in town.

Andrew Lister, chief executive at the Mill, said: “We are enormously grateful for the patience and support of our audiences whilst our team are undertaking the mammoth task of trying to make alternative arrangements for each individual show, our auditorium may be temporarily out of action, but we will be doing everything we can to go ahead with as many of the affected shows as possible, albeit at a different time or place.

"Furthermore we are working closely with our landlords to ensure that we have the auditorium back up and running so we can welcome audiences back through our doors and enjoying live performance again just as soon as possible.”

The centre’s café bar and programme of creative classes and workshops are not affected by the closure of the auditorium and remain open to visitors.