Fun and fabulous DAC

Offering a bit of something for everyone

Our arts venue in the centre of Enfield is a cultural hub for the borough of Enfield offering top-level theatre, an amazing museum, arts and crafts workshops, poetry, music and an award-winning café-restaurant serving locally sourced and sustainable food.

We invite visitors to see, do, learn, connect and enjoy. Everyone is welcome, whether watching a show or watching the world go by, making a masterpiece or a bit of a mess. We are proud to host a wide range of community gatherings including breastfeeding mums, knit and natter sessions and poetry collectives.

Our mission is to provide fabulous experiences for everyone in an inclusive, creative atmosphere.

The refurb

We are so proud to unveil the brand new Dugdale Arts Centre, delivered by Enfield Council. Thanks to National Lottery Heritage Fund for support with specialist museum design and to Arts Council England for #HereforCulture support to maintain the venue during the pandemic.

The new design for the centre keeps the warmth, the welcome and the fantastic studio theatre of Dugdale-as-was and builds on this to create fantastic new opportunities.

Who was Florence Dugdale?

Florence Dugdale was born in Edmonton in 1879.

Although she trained as a teacher, her passion was for writing and she began publishing children’s stories and reviews in the Enfield Observer and then in national magazines.

Her life changed in 1905 when she wrote a letter to her literary hero, famous novelist Thomas Hardy. Although he was 38 years her senior, Thomas and Florence rapidly became close friends. Some years later, after Hardy’s first wife died, Florence Dugdale married Thomas Hardy.

Florence’s own books often focus on baby animals and are lovely examples of illustrated children’s literature from the early 20th century. It is nice to think that Florence’s work carries on the traditions of attentiveness to the natural world and of literary success that are part of Enfield’s heritage. After her marriage to Hardy, however, Florence devoted herself to supporting her husband in his writing and is chiefly remembered for her role as the second Mrs Hardy.

Her choices to write, to make an unconventional marriage and to manage the estate of a world-famous writer show her bravery, intelligence and creative approach to the world.

We are proud to celebrate these values at Dugdale Arts Centre and to commemorate an intriguing figure in Enfield’s rich and varied cultural life.