Peterborough Cathedral financial crisis is going the same way as the dinosaurs as historic building's future looks rosy again

Peterborough is facing the last days of the dinosaurs as a spectacular exhibition comes to an end – but unlike the giant reptiles, the city’s cathedral is facing a much rosier future.

Five years ago, Peterborough Cathedral was facing crisis point, millions of pounds in debt.

But despite a challenging few years, the 900 year old building’s finances are now in a much more stable position – partly thanks to an opportunity that came about in COVID lockdown.

And as the dinosaur exhibition – which has seen around 50,000 people come through the doors – ends this week, now the Cathedral is nearly debt free,

Creative ways to increase footfall

The Dean of Peterborough, The Very Revd Chris Dalliston was installed in the role in January 2018, when the finances at the building were at ‘crisis point.’

He said: “When I started it was very fragile, we had millions of pounds of debt and we had an operational deficit running into hundreds of thousands of pounds per annum, so it was costing us far more to service our debt, and we were also having to pay to fill gaps in our operational costs, so it couldn’t go on. It was only the generosity of the church commissioner that enabled us to hold us in being at that particular point. We had to work very hard to restructure and reposition our financial situation, which we have done through a number of mechanisms.

"Partly we have sacrificed one or two buildings we didn’t think were essential for the life of the cathedral to operate effectively, and that has helped us very much reduce our debt. We are nearly now at the point of being debt free, and our operational costs, were we have been learning how to be much more disciplined in the way we spend, but also being much more entrepreneurial in the way we draw revenue in – things like the dinosaur exhibition and other things we have done have enabled us to be quite creative, to increase our footfall. We have developed our shop, through the support of benefactors and grants, so our shop has a much improved offer."

Nightingale Court provided much needed boost during COVID

While COVID struck many places and institutions hard, Peterborough Cathedral were fortunate in being able to shore up their financial footing, thanks to hosting a ‘Nightingale Court,’ set up to help the court service cope with the backlog of cases.

Very Rev Dalliston said: “We received a rental for hosting the court for the best part of 18 months, and enabled us to cope with the loss of other revenues, which gave us a breathing space when our recovery was at a tentative and early stage, so COVID, which could have been a disaster – and certainly was from pastorally and missionary – but was actually a time when we were able to stabilise our financial position.

He said the opportunity to host the court came about from a talk with then shadow justice minister David Lammy, a former chorister at the Cathedral.

Peterborough Cathedral was also helped by the fact entry is – and always has been – free, so when the building was closed during lockdown, it didn’t lose as much income as other cathedrals across the country.

The Dean said that even at the crisis point of the Cathedral’s finances, the Bishop of Peterborough had said entry should remain free.

Very Rev Dalliston said: “When we were in crisis mode the Bishop made a visit to the Cathedral and he made it quite clear charging was not going to be an option from his perspective. And we never wanted it to be anyway, because Peterborough is not a tourist honey pot in a sense some of these places are, and we wanted it to feel a place where people could come without distinction, very much open for the city.

"We are up front about invitation for a donation, and on the whole most people are very generous.”

“We will not be immune to cost of living crisis”

As with the rest of the country, he said the Cathedral would ‘not be immune’ from the cost of living crisis – although he said energy bills were under control, despite the centuries old building not being particularly energy efficient.

"We are not going to be immune from it – both in terms of what people can give, and for members of staff who do give selflessly their energies to the cathedral, but have to live as well. We are not looking to next year with any degree of complacency.

"These are ridiculously expensive buildings to heat in winter, and are grossly inefficient.

"We have to look at our environmental footprint, looking at ‘greening’ the cathedral. The Church of England have set an aspiration to be net zero by 2030, I don’t think we can realistically make that, but we want to move incrementally towards that over the next few years, but there is obviously capital costs associated with that.”

Looking to the future, the Cathedral is looking to host more special exhibitions like the T-Rex one that has been on display this summer, and the Tim Peake spaceship exhibition in 2018.

The team are currently working on something for next year – although it is too early to reveal details on that yet.

Very Rev Dalliston said: “It has been very important to host these – people come from far and wide to see them. They have been amazingly successful – we were bowled over by the Tim Peake success, and that broke new ground for us.”

The T-Rex: The Killer Question exhibition runs at Peterborough Cathedral until Saturday. For more information visit https://www.peterborough-cathedral.org.uk/