SEVEN years after a devastating fire forced the world's smallest theatre to close, a group of volunteers have helped reopen it.

The Theatre of Small Convenience, Edith Walk, Malvern, was once a Victorian toilet, but was converted into a tiny auditorium in 1997.

With seating for just 12 people, the Guinness Book of World Records named it the world's smallest commercial theatre in 2002.

A fire in 2018 forced the theatre to close, but volunteers like Loz Samuels, from Malvern, have been working for years to bring it back, and on Friday (October 24), the theatre held its grand reopening to a sold-out crowd.

DAMAGED: The theatre was badly damaged in a fire in 2018 (Image: Emma Trimble / SWNS)

Ms Samuels, who is now creative director at the theatre, said: "I can't quite believe we've got to the point of opening.

"It is just such a unique and intimate space, there's not really anything else like it.

"The place has a special vibe and is an inviting space in which to interact.

"It's not like these big corporate flashy and shiny places which we have so many of everywhere, and that's what appealed to us."

Ms Samuels, alongside fellow volunteers Dibah Farooqui and Dr Jan Birtle, transformed the theatre with the assistance of £25,000 in donations.

VOLUNTEER: Loz Samuels was one of the lead volunteers restoring the theate (Image: Emma Trimble / SWNS)

However, they feared for its future after being rejected Arts Council funding before managing to secure enough with the help of Malvern Hills District Council.

Ms Samuels said: "It took a year of just paperwork, writing business plans and meetings just to help secure the funding before we could start renovating last September.

"It was quite a major renovation - we've done the drainage too, as we're on a hill, it has had a full rewire and underfloor heating.

"We've managed to keep all the original woodwork and restored that and painted murals around the space too.

REOPEN: The Theatre of Small Convenience, Malvern (Image: Emma Trimble / SWNS)

"We have so much support, and it makes you feel part of a community."

The theatre isn't short of events in the coming months now it is back in operation.

Ms Samuels said: "We have a variety of shows coming up from now on - from children's storytellers to an Edinburgh Fringe show called Sceptre.

"We'll have a Narnia-style grotto in December, and we even have a wedding booked for December 28, so it'll be a little wedding venue too.

"You don't even need to see a show, it's just an amazing space to be in."