A proposal for a new entertainment venue which could be built in the town centre has been met with a mixture of cautious optimism and wary scepticism.

Swindon Borough Council is due to host a meeting on Thursday to discuss specialist architect Stufish’s idea for a new auditorium that would be built on what is now the central bus station at an estimated cost of up to £35 million.

Stufish built the Abba Voyage Arena and is taking inspiration from that for this Swindon site.

Offices, dressing rooms, lavatories and the like would be individual buildings on site, with the auditorium and fly tower built around them later.

Adver readers had mixed views on the proposal.

Some were dismissive and did not expect the plan to become a reality.

Anthony Jackowski said: “Like everything in this town, I'll believe it when I see it.

David Cornell said: “Never going to happen. Nobody is going to invest money into a project there. Wrong place, too small to compete - needs to be larger, on the outskirts of town, with parking and good links to public transport.”

Richard Clark said: “Yet another pretty picture of what the town could look like. I remember a similar picture of the Snowdome. Sadly what Swindon tends to end up with is houses and flats.”

Jay Chambers said: “It’s clearly not a big enough plot of land to incorporate enough parking.

“To draw in the big acts, it needs to have plenty of seating and must be easily accessible to visitors from outside the town.”

Mark Fiddes added: “Too little too late, pipe dream.”

Al Smith said: “Yes I'd like to see a new theatre and concert venue. However, I've seen too many of these sorts of plans in the past 25 years and unless they are being driven by the private sector they just don't seem to come to fruition.

“Also there is the rather large matter of the nearly abandoned Regent Circus, perhaps it's worth talking to the owners about redeveloping that, turn the cinema into theatre(s) and Morrisons into a concert/exhibition hall (eyeballing the site it looks to be at least the same size as the Oasis hall).”

Commenter Eyes Peeled said: “Swindon has one of the best collections of failed project CGIs in the country. Something to be proud of.”

Others tried to stay optimistic and hoped for the best.

Christian Kostiuk said: “If it happens it will be brilliant. No arguments from me. Really need to do something impressive with Regent Circus though.”

Karen Curtin said: “I hope this will happen, it is just what the town needs to get things rolling.”

Commenter GritTheOyster said: “It does feel like the right building in the right place at the right time. Fingers crossed!”

Other commenters discussed the need for a major entertainment venue in Swindon.

One, with the username Philomena Cunk, said: “The fact a town the size of Swindon doesn't have a proper concert venue is crazy. I feel like we could easily host the kinds of bands that play O2 Academy sized venues.”

Another calling themselves Corn-Fed Yeti added: “Swindon is at least a third larger, population wise, than Oxford.

“However, Swindon has no university and no nighttime economy to speak of outside of the relatively limited number of establishments in Old Town.

“The main problem is actually the venues you mention. Booking agents have no need to put bands into Swindon as any touring bands of note will simply play the existing, established and well frequented O2 Academies in Bristol and Oxford.

“And due to the expense of touring these days, many bands will now only play Bristol and expect people to travel. The Oxford O2 Academy schedule used to be almost identical to that of the Bristol 02 Academy, not any longer.

“Promoters booking arena-sized bands simply expect people along the M4 corridor to either travel to Cardiff, Birmingham or London. And that's exactly what they do.”

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