LET THE GOODE TIMES ROLL: Pier Theatre manager Ian Goode looks forward to the summer

NEW Pier Theatre bosses Openwide promised they would bring a modern feel to traditional end-of- the-pier entertainment in Bournemouth.

But after last year's disastrous summer season, when their flagship variety show often played to near-empty houses, there has been something of a rethink.

This year's entertainment is firmly based on a mixture of nostalgia and tribute acts.

An as-yet-unnamed summer show will play just two days a week, Wednesdays and Thursdays, pulling in punters from local hotels and avoiding the town's weekend influx of clubbers and stag and hen night revellers.

Big names include one-time housewives favourite, the singer and impressionist Joe Longthorne who stages a midsummer concert on June 13, a "Rockney" knees-up with Chas and Dave on July 26, shows by Irish crooners The Bachelors on August 18 and veteran rock 'n' roller Marty Wilde and the Wildcats on August 23.

Meanwhile there are acts paying tribute to Queen, Pink Floyd, Elvis and T-Rex lined up while family entertainment includes a visit from the Basil Brush touring show, Basil of the Caribbean.

"Bournemouth has changed," says theatre manager Ian Goode. "What we do has to reflect that. Many people come to the town on short breaks, a couple of days at a time. At the weekend it's largely clubbers and youngsters. Our core audience, people who are looking for a more traditional seaside experience, tend to be here midweek and that's when we'll stage out summer show."

Goode, a man with years of experience booking hotel and club entertainment, was signed up by Openwide last year and brought in just weeks before the summer season started. He watched largely helpless while what he describes as "a very good programme of entertainment" failed to pull in audiences in sufficient numbers.

He believes a number of factors were at work, not least the appalling weather, but he also feels that Bournemouth, with a huge amount of alternatives when it comes to a night out, is a market that needs particularly careful handling.

It is perhaps significant that Openwide's main success with end-of-pier entertainment has been in Cromer, a resort situated on the north coast of Norfolk, miles from the nearest competition.

Ian Goode says his bosses remain excited about future prospects for Bournemouth Pier and its theatre.

"It's a fantastic facility and a lovely theatre. From my point of view, though, I think there is no point in pretending that the Pier Theatre is something it's not. Its great strength is that it's traditional - a little old-fashioned even. That's what appeals to people."

Measures already taken to make the Pier Theatre more user-friendly include moving the box office back in-house instead of siting it on the Pier Approach and the famous windbreak - removed last summer - will be back in place this year too.

12:06pm Tuesday 5th February 2008

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