Hope yet for cinema destroyed by inferno But doubters question whether it has a future
AN art deco cinema seemingly destroyed in a massive fire two weeks ago can rise from the ashes, claim campaigners.
Harborne’s former Royalty ma was engulfed by flames early hours of September 19.
But though the heart of the cinema was completely destroyed, the front remains intact and this week the Harborne Royalty Trust said it was hopeful of being able to incorporate it into future plans.
The vision would depend on persuading owner True Pearl Ltd that it was a good idea, as well as the results of a structural survey within a month.
Rob Sutton, chairman of the Royalty Trust, said: “The building is in a sorry state but we are still looking to move the Royalty forward.
“Most people do not want to see another apartment block.
“It could be a community centre, small cinema and performance space – though the funding model would now be different to the £6 million plan we were proposing last year.
“Because the roof and art deco auditorium have completely gone, it would not be a clean build.
“Now we are waiting for a struc- Cinein the tural report to see what can be saved from the front of the building and what’s behind it – there was a wall at an angle which might have protected the front.”
Mr Sutton said that having overseen the listing of the Royalty, Birmingham City Council “might have done more to protect it”. Otherwise lots of other listed buildings in the city were at risk of being lost, he warned.
“They have an interest in protecting listed buildings and there are ways you can secure things like windows,” he said. “This puts all listed buildings under the spotlight if they have to be left empty.”
Mr Sutton added: “Because of our not-for-profit status, we could have access to grants and other funding that the site owner cannot.
“They could put in a planning application to see what happens.
“But before they do that, they might want to think ‘this is interesting, how can we work with this group?’.”
But another local group doubts there is a future for the grade II-listed building which opened as a cinema in 1930 and showed its last picture in 1963 before becoming a bingo hall. The Harborne Society’s technical officer, Andy Peet, said: “The trust does not have the money to do anything and was rather late coming to the party.
“It has produced some nice drawings about its vision for the building, but there has been no 25-year business plan to secure any funding.
“Harborne Society members were behind the plans of True Pearl for luxury apartments with some community facilities, not the idea that you could turn the site into something like a three-screen cinema, cafe, hub and restaurant, all of which seemed to be mutually exclusive.
“The irony is that had it not been for the negative impact of the Conservation Heritage Panel which prevented planning application being granted, then the owner’s plans might have been up and running by now which would have saved more of the building than is now left.”
Mr Peet added: “With 24 screens nearby at Odeon Luxe and Cineworld Broad Street at Five Ways, we were never convinced by the trust’s idea that you could open a cinema back at the Royalty.
“It has lots of nice ideas, but no long-term business plan.
“Three years after expressing an interest, the trust still doesn’t really know what it wants.
“Personally speaking, I am falling out of love with the Royalty.
“Even as something of a conservationist and preservationist, I probably think it ought to be demolished.”
Most people do not want to see another apartment block Rob Sutton, chairman of the Royalty Trust