A new contract to provide East Lancashire's premier pantomime is finally going out to tender after a year's delay caused by the £9million renovation of Blackburn's King George's Hall.

The previous deal for the money-spinning traditional Christmas show at the historic venue ended after last year's production of Cinderella.

In October last year, Blackburn with Darwen Council started the process of looking for a new production company but it was put on hold while the ambitious revamp of the landmark 104-year-old town centre Grade II heritage-listed building was undertaken.

Now, with King George's Hall scheduled to reopen next year, the authority is looking for a contractor to put the festive seal on its return to action.

The current deal for the show is held by Shone Productions but there is no pantomime this December while the works take place.

The annual KGH Christmas spectacular sells £250,000 worth of tickets every year.

Now the authority's deputy leader Cllr Quesir Mahmood has announced it is going out to tender for a new four-year deal for 2026 to 2029.

In a report to colleagues, he says: "The council intends to tender for suitably qualified and experienced production company to undertake the delivery of the KGH annual pantomime.

"It is proposed a production company will bring all the necessary facets to King George's Hall as a receiving house and manage the performance including stage and set construction, performances throughout the run and then removals.

"The council last tendered for the rights to produce a Christmas pantomime at KGH in 2019.

"This tender arrangement expired after the 2024 pantomime season, therefore it is timely to seek a production company to provide our Christmas pantomime for the period 2026 to 2029.

"This will include but not limited to all cast, set, scenery, props, costumes, technical provision, stage production, script, musicians, and joint marketing provision.

"The successful production company will be incentivised to help maximise income for the council with a profit share agreement.

"KGH will sell all tickets from its own platform, provide the crew to help with access and egress and provide marketing support to the local area.

"The pantomime at King George's Hall brings the venue significant revenue which has shown growth over the last number of years.

"It is important this trend is maintained, and a quality provider is selected to continue revenue growth and maintain or improve venue reputation."

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Cllr Mahmood told the Lancashire Telegraph: "This is an exciting time for King George's Hall with a massive amount of new investment for the much-loved venue - more than £9m in total.

"While the doors may be closed this year to allow for the extensive works to the historic building, the dedicated team at King George's Hall is incredibly busy planning a packed programme for 2026 including the hugely-popular panto.

"In the meantime, there's lots going on at our Darwen Library Theatre venue, including the Nosey Reindeer and Elf Jr. Christmas shows as well as a busy line-up of live music and comedy.

"In total, we've secured more than £20m of Government investment for our borough's cultural venues with additional council funding too."