The DH Lawrence Heritage Centre in Eastwood will close next year.
Broxtowe Borough Council Cabinet made the decision last night due to concerns about the cost. It was argued that the £1.5million subsidy was no longer a commitment the authority can afford.
The news has been met with dismay by arts campaigners.
However, The Lawrence Birthplace Museum, which is also in Eastwood, will be renovated and expanded.
Picture: The novelist died in 1930
Councillor Richard Jackson, leader of the authority, said: “The council needs to save over £3m over the next three years and we clearly have to make some difficult decisions to balance our budget.”
It’s not the first time the centre has faced closure. It was also threatened in similar circumstances back in 2010.
A campaign was started to try and safeguard it, centring around the author’s former home town of Eastwood.
Support was gained from leading names in literature, including Salaman Rushdie and Martin Amis and the council eventually decided to keep it open.
Picture: Some of DH Lawrence’s work on show in the centre.
It was recently refurbished so that it could host weddings and civil partnerships and it regularly welcomes conferences, exhibitions and film showings.
The Mansfield Road centre is expected to close its doors for the final time in March next year.
David Belbin, chairman of the Nottingham City of Literature bid group, said: “I’ve spoken to the council leader to express our disappointment and seek assurances that the centre’s education and heritage activities will be undiminished, which he gave me.
“This makes us all the more determined to see the City of Literature celebrate Lawrence as part of our literary heritage. I very much hope that Eastwood will continue to do the same.”
The bid’s president, playwright Stephen Lowe, added: “Lawrence is, worldwide, one of the 20th century’s great literary figures. He shaped the history we’re now living through. Anything that diminishes his literary and educational heritage is a tragedy.”
Born in Eastwood in 1885, Lawrence is regarded of one of the greatest authors in the history English literature.
His works include Sons and Lovers and Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and he is famed for highlighting the dehumanising effects of industrialisation.
He died in France in 1930.
