Former cinema could be knocked down
MGM Cannon building could be pulled down
THE ART Deco former Cannon cinema in Hinckley could be demolished to make way for 29 flats and a retail space.
The iconic structure with its curved facade on the corner of Trinity Lane and Hollycroft has been disused since its last incarnation, a sports bar, which closed down more than a decade ago.
While recognised as an important element of the Hollycroft Conservation Area, if planners at Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council approve the scheme, the 80-year-old building will be razed to the ground.
In its place will rise a brick and glass four storey apartment block, increasing to five storeys on the curve of the site.
The block would house 29 flats, 10 one bedroom, 14 two bedroom and five three bed with recessed balconies and 18 car park spaces.
It is not known what type of use the ground floor retail area facing Hollycroft might be put to.
In the application submission, architects The Space Studio, on behalf of owner APV Leisure c/o SDL Bigwood, say: “The structure is not listed, however does have some architectural value due to the Art Deco styling synonymous with the cinemas of the period. Being disused for more than 10 years, a sustainable re-use of the structure has failed to materialise.
“The prescriptive layout and structure deem the building unsuitable for conversion to the proposed, sustainable uses. The building has very few openings addressing the frontage, and multi-storey loadbearing brickwork facades that would be both structurally and architecturally problematic to remodel.”
The regeneration of the site follows the approval of plans to turn both the former Leicestershire County Council offices nearby on Upper Bond Street and the old police station opposite into flats - although both those schemes relied on retaining the existing fabric of both buildings.
The application is yet to be listed for determination by councillors and comments from the public are welcomed.
The Theatres Trust, a national advisory body for safeguarding theatre use, has already objected saying: “Insufficient information has been provided to justify the full loss of a potential community/cultural facility.
“The trust therefore advises a community needs assessment is required to establish if there is a local need for a community and or cultural facility that could reuse the whole, or part of, the building, and establish if appropriate marketing has been undertaken.
“This is required to demonstrate viability and determine if the building is surplus to the needs of the community. The loss of a building that could be used by the community as a community or cultural facility without full justification is contrary to the NPPF and council’s poli- cies and refused.”
The existing Art Deco Cinema building was constructed on the site of a former hosiery factory in 1936 to designs by Ernest S Roberts, a prolific cinema architect in the Birmingham area.
It opened as the Danilo Cinema on July 26 1937, part of a chain owned by Mortimer Dent, including those at Brierley Hill, Redditch, Cannock, Longbridge, Stoke-on-Trent and Stourbridge.
The cinema had 1,250 seats, and was the last super-cinema to be built in Hinckley.
In 1970 it was re-opened as the Essoldo and in 1972 was bought by Classic Cinemas and so renamed again. In August 1973 it reopened as a three-screen cinema, later becoming the Cannon, which in turn closed in May 1993, the last functioning cinema in the town before the launch of Cineworld last year.
It was subsequently a sports bar but has been disused for more than a decade. should be