A THEATRE which has hosted stars ranging from The Beatles and Cliff Richard to Sir Malcolm Sargent has been given a boost in a bid to secure its future.

Harrogate's Royal Hall in North Yorkshire needs £11.2m spending on its crumbling structure to save it from demolition.

Now the Royal Hall Restoration Trust has been formed to raise £1m for matching funds to support a National Lottery bid.

Trust chairman Lilian Mina, who is also chairman of Harrogate Civic Society, said: "This new status should open doors to all sorts of funding which would otherwise not have been possible.

"It is a tremendous challenge - both daunting and exciting. We are looking for widespread public support because this grand old building is much too important to lose."

A string of events are being organised to boost the hall's fortunes and recently film and television star Edward Fox joined the fight to restore the theatre.

Mr Fox, who has offered to give practical help to the campaign, joined members of his family to give backing to the scheme at the Grade II listed building.

His great-grandfather, Samson Fox, who became an internationally famous industrialist, was Mayor of Harrogate from 1889-92.

Last year, the theatre's upper circle was closed to the public amid safety fears after serious structural problems were found in the building.

This has reduced seating capacity to about 800.