Audiences still can’t find the Barbican….

It’s been a standing joke for the 25 years since the Barbican Centre first opened its doors that it’s difficult for audiences to find; and that’s still the case, despite a £14million refurbishment to its foyers which included the creation, finally, of a formal “entrance” in Silk Street (that simply covered in the existing draughty driveway but has bizarrely left a little bit of the new grandly empty space still uncovered, so its still going to be draughty in the winter). I know this because I arranged to meet someone at the Silk Street entrance last night who’d only been there once before, and he arrived late and ruffled: the signposting from Barbican tube is still misleading and confusing, he reported, and anyway, how do you get to the Silk Street entrance if you follow the prescribed route? (Answer: by walking down the long road tunnel rather than into the Barbican itself, an unappealing prospect at the best of times).

Walking from Barbican tube, the more scenic route is up and over the street on the connecting bridge that takes you onto the elevated housing estate part of the Barbican, from which you descend to the Centre beside the artificial lake. On this side of the building, there is no formal entrance – just the competing claims of the Waterside Café ahead and the lifts and scenic spiral staircase to different levels as you enter. The main “entrance” is still entirely on the wrong side of the building, across the newly-installed bridge that travels over the lower level main theatre and concert hall concourse.

I doubt I’m ever going to be able to love this building; unlike the South Bank, where a ragbag of fine modern buildings effortlessly dovetail to provide an unparalleled artistic smorgasbord, the Barbican compresses theatres, concert hall, cinemas and art galleries all under one roof. But the public spaces still feel woefully unpopulated; and although they have been so expensively refurbished, I also noticed last night how tatty the theatre itself is now starting to look, so its time to spruce that up now.