The Sir Ken Dodd Happiness Centre

News – Monday 18 August

Sir Ken Dodd Happiness Centre scheme called off due to funding shortfall

The Sir Ken Dodd Happiness Centre will not move forward in Liverpool after the project was unsuccessful in securing funding from the National Heritage Lottery Fund.

In August 2024 Liverpool City Council approved a planning application for a state-of-the-art building to be constructed next door to the Royal Court Theatre creating an environment in which to exhibit Sir Ken’s vast personal collection of artefacts and joke books, spanning some seven decades. The Sir Ken Dodd Happiness Centre would also celebrate the city’s rich comedy heritage, offering a range of activities and events for the public to enjoy alongside performances by a variety of entertainers.

Following an unsuccessful application to the National Heritage Lottery Fund in December 2024, the trustees of the Ken Dodd Charitable Foundation (KDCF) and the Royal Court Liverpool Trust (RCLT) have been working together for the past eight months to secure alternative funding avenues, but both have cited a challenging public funding backdrop for new capital projects.

Both have already invested in the development, design and planning of the project with a pledge from KDCF to cover two thirds of the cost of a new build.

Before he died in 2018, aged 90, Sir Ken had set up his own charity foundation to support performing arts charities and organisations across the UK, particularly in Merseyside. KDCF is run by trustees including Anne, Lady Dodd, who leads the foundation and has played an incredibly active role supporting many good causes since the passing of her husband.

Anne, Lady Dodd, says: “It is with a heavy heart and only after much deliberation that the trustees of the Ken Dodd Charitable Foundation reluctantly decided to withdraw support for the Sir Ken Dodd Happiness Centre project. Ken loved the city of Liverpool, the people who live here and the marvellous Merseyside sense of humour. Comedy was Ken’s life, and he was always eager to help, advise and offer encouragement to new comedians and new talent. An iconic museum and heritage attraction where entertainers could rehearse and perform, linked to a permanent exhibition of Ken’s treasured artifacts and joke books, would have been a most fitting tribute to a man who was viewed as a national icon, not just in Liverpool.

“It is a shame, despite the best efforts of the Royal Court Theatre and the Ken Dodd Charitable Foundation, that we could not attract the level of funding necessary to turn our vision into reality. The Sir Ken Dodd Happiness Centre is a fantastic idea. It would have been a wonderful addition to Liverpool’s already extensive and renowned cultural assets.

“We, along with the RCLT, were totally committed to the Happiness Centre project but like so many other people at this time we are feeling the impact of the economic climate. There are so many deserving organisations needing financial support and the substantial funds we had set aside for this project will ultimately help other good causes across Merseyside and elsewhere in the UK in the future, in line with our foundation’s mission statement and Ken’s wishes before he died.”

Gillian Miller, CEO of the Royal Court Theatre, says: “ Since the disappointing setback of failing to achieve a grant from the National Heritage Lottery Fund, we have spent the past eight months trying to find alternative funding to enable this wonderful scheme to proceed. Sadly, in the current economic climate, we have been unable to find the additional funding required for the construction of this new building and alternative schemes do not meet requirements. We therefore mutually decided along with our donor, the Ken Dodd Charitable Foundation, to shelve our plans at this time. There simply aren’t sufficient funds available to meet the demands of so many projects like ours at this moment in time.”