New Theatre at a glance
- What
- The city's largest theatre, in a restored art deco auditorium
- Where
- 46 Broadway, Peterborough, PE1 1RT
- Built
- 1937, as the Odeon cinema
- Capacity
- Around 1,075 seats across stalls and circle
- Programme
- Touring musicals, drama, comedy, music, dance and pantomime
- Access
- Step-free by lift, wheelchair spaces with companion seating
One of the largest stages in the region, inside a 1937 cinema that has been closed, burnt, condemned to flats and rescued more times than any building in Peterborough. It is still here, and still full.
The New Theatre opened in September 1937 as the Odeon, designed by Roland Satchwell and revised by Harry Weedon, the architect behind the Odeon chain's house style. It held 1,752 people across stalls and balcony, with the sweeping curved lines and concealed lighting that defined cinema architecture of the period.
What followed was a long decline. The exterior was stripped of its decoration and rendered over in 1960. Two extra screens were pushed into the rear stalls in 1973. The cinema closed altogether in November 1991 when a multiplex opened elsewhere in the city, and the building sat empty. It was bought by Peter Boizot, the Peterborough-born founder of Pizza Express, and reopened in 1996, then redeveloped by Tim Foster Architects and reopened in June 2001 as the Broadway Theatre.
An arson attack in February 2009 badly damaged the stage and filled the auditorium with smoke. The theatre closed, the operating company went into liquidation, and by 2016 a planning application for conversion to housing was being prepared. It was saved again in 2017, when the Dawe Charitable Trust took on the lease, and has since been refurbished with an enlarged stage. It now runs as the New Theatre Peterborough, operated by Landmark Theatres.
What to expect
An art deco auditorium
Curved walls, banded ante-proscenium and a steeply raked circle, restored rather than replaced. Around 1,075 seats in cinema-style comfort.
Touring productions
West End musicals, drama, stand-up, tribute shows, music and dance, with one of the largest stages in the East of England to put them on.
Pantomime
The city's main annual pantomime season, and for many families the one theatre visit of the year.
Getting in and around
Step-free access via lift, wheelchair spaces with companion seating, accessible toilets, support for carers and a programme of accessible performances.
The bar
Open an hour before curtain up, with interval orders taken so you are not queuing when the lights go down.
Not the Embassy
The other art deco theatre on Broadway is the 1937 Embassy, a separate building now in use as licensed premises. That is where the Beatles played, not here.
Planning your visit
- Address
- New Theatre Peterborough, 46 Broadway, Peterborough, PE1 1RT
- On foot
- Five minutes from Cathedral Square and about ten from the railway station.
- Parking
- City centre car parks within a short walk, including Queensgate. Check evening closing times before you park.
- Box office
- Tickets and current box office hours are on the theatre's own website. Prices vary by production.
- Bars
- Open sixty minutes before each performance.
- Access booking
- Contact the theatre directly to arrange wheelchair spaces, companion seats or an accessible performance.
While you're here
Queensgate
Five minutes away, with shops, restaurants and the Odeon Luxe cinema on the roof for a different kind of evening.
Peterborough Cathedral
A short walk through Cathedral Square. Free to enter, and worth an hour before a matinee.
The Embassy
The other 1937 art deco venue on Broadway, and the only building David Evelyn Nye designed as a theatre rather than a cinema.
Key Theatre
The city's riverside theatre on the Embankment, for smaller-scale drama, comedy and youth productions.
Programme, prices, box office hours and access arrangements change. Details correct at the time of writing, August 2026. Historical dates drawn from the Theatres Trust database and contemporary cinema records. Check with the venue before booking.