Councillors in Tenby have agreed to a request from the trust at the De Valence Pavilion venue to reduce their annual grant.

The grant at present from the town council to the trust is £30,000 per annum, with the trust asking for it to be reduced to £28,000 for the 2018/19 period.

“Our aim is to reduce the grant annually. We are at present upgrading the venue, which is attracting more use throughout the year,” wrote the the De Valence’s secretary Dave Jones in correspondence that came before a meeting of Tenby Town Council on Tuesday night.

“There is still a large amount of work left for us to do, but feel that we will be able to manage with such reductions,” he continued.

Proposed work to be carried out at the venue includes electrical repairs, a refit of the toilets, a new kitchen, refurbishing the changing rooms, replacing doors and fire exits, work to the hall and dance floor, the introduction of CCTV.

Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown, of the Trust, told councillors that the venue hasn’t got a free weekend now until after December 16, with the Round Table beer festival taking place this weekend, followed by the Blues Festival, and then an assortment of bookings, including the hunt ball, Christmas festivities, the annual Round Table old folks dinner, Greenhill ball, and a pre-Christmas wedding.

The pantomime Aladdin will also be held in the new year, and the De Valence were working in conjunction with Films4Tenby on screening movies to the public.

The Mayor, Clr. Mrs. Sue Lane, said that she’d like to congratulate all at the De Valence on their hard work and in also being in a position to be able to reduce the grant.