Liverpool misses out as English National Opera chooses new home

Liverpool will not be the new home of the English National Opera (ENO), it was confirmed today.

The company will move to a new base outside of London by March 2029 and Liverpool was among five cities in the running to become its new home. The move comes after the ENO, currently found at The London Coliseum in the West End, lost its £12.8m annual grant from Arts Council England (ACE) and was told it must move out of the capital in order to qualify for future grants.

Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram and Liverpool Council leader Liam Robinson made the case for the opera company moving to Merseyside, sending a letter in June to arts minister Lord Parkinson. The two leaders said that Liverpool's musical reputation and heritage, venues such as the Philharmonic Hall and the success of Eurovision meant it has “the strongest case that it is viable and sustainable and will allow the company to flourish as it enters its next chapter”.

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Similarly, Liverpool's Culture Director Claire McColgan last week told the ECHO that Liverpool audiences' willingness to "embrace everything" meant it should become the opera's new home.

Ms McColgan told the ECHO: "I've worked here for such a long time and the interesting thing is that audiences in the city embrace everything.

"From opera to football, it's a proper city of audiences. I think that's what's exciting about having an opera company as diverse as ENO potentially coming - it's (the ENO) surprising, it's funny, it's warm and it's unusual.

"What we can see from our events from the last 20 years is that I never worry about people coming to things in