Civil War Centre and Palace Theatre joining forces for Newark's tourist hotspot

Earlier this year, Newark saw the launch of arguably one of the finest tourist attractions to grace the town over its long and illustrious history. With the opening of the National Civil War Centre, the jewel in Newark's crown, the market town now boasts a site to proudly illustrate its role in one of the bloodiest conflicts in the nations history. However the work on the Civil War Centre is not yet complete, as work has already begun on expanding the site and merging it with another popular attraction next door. The Newark Palace Theatre has seen many famous faces grace its stage throughout its 80+ year history, with comedy, drama, ballet, pantomimes and much more gripping the attention of its wide and varied audiences. In fact in April this year, the theatre rolled out the red carpet to premiere the films made to grace the launch of the Civil War Museum. These films scooped the accolades at the Cannes film festival in October, with the series of films winning the silver prize in the ‘Fairs, Shows, Events and Meeting Openers’ category and the movie trailer taking silver in the ‘Streaming/Web-TV category’. On the back of a hugely successful year for Newark, the Palace Theatre and Civil War Centre will now be looking to merge into one, with work afoot to connect the two attractions and create a tourist hub for the town. I took a whistle stop tour of the site in late November to check out the refurbishment of the Palace Theatre and gain an insight into the plans to merge the theatre and the Civil War Museum as well as adding the new information centre and box office. It will be a massive site once completed and it's great to see that the grade II listed Palace Theatre is receiving a loving refurbishment to keep it fresh. The current bar area will be upgraded, with the new cafe going in where the current right hand side bar sits upon entering the Theatre foyer. The toilets have been completely refreshed and modernized and new seating and tables will replace the current ones in the foyer. Visitors to the town will soon be able to book to visit the Civil War Centre and learn more about the towns horrible histories, take a tour of the town with the Civil War Town Trail App, enjoy in a spot of lunch at a new cafe which will join the theatre and the Civil War Centre, and then catch a show at the Palace Theatre in the evening. Added to this, will be a new information centre, with staff on hand to answer questions on things to do in Newark, the surrounding area and across the county as well as a box office to book theatre tickets for shows. Yet more exciting times lie ahead for Newark once all this work is complete - with visitors to the market town able to enjoy a packed programme of things to do while they visit! To find out more about shows at the Palace Theatre, head over to their website. For more details on the Civil War Centre, make sure you check out their website for opening times and as well as details on exhibitions and events.