Friends' vision for old cinema

A FRESH bid has been launched to bring the former Odeon Cinema in South Clerk Street back into public use.

The New Victoria Project is led by a group of ten friends who want to see the art-deco building turned into a community space, cinema and entertainment venue.

The proposal comes as the building is placed back on the market by current owners, developers Duddingston House Properties (DHP).

The firm bought the boarded-up South Clerk Street site seven years ago with the aim of turning it into a boutique hotel.

However, its plans, which would have involved the demolition of the cinema's listed auditorium, were shelved in May when a Scottish Government reporter ruled that all viable alternatives for the listed building had not yet been explored.

The New Victoria Project, named after the cinema's original 1930s title, is run by a group of recent graduates based in the Capital. Operations director Sarah Colquhoun, 23, said most of them were working in bar or venue management and wanted to put their skills to good use. "We're a large group with a shared interest, which is to save this grade-B listed building and we want to adapt it for the needs of the community today.

"This would include music, theatre and film screenings, rehearsal and performance rooms, community spaces for outreach projects and an excellent range of bar and cafe facilities. Central to our plans are two themes - the architectural restoration of this building and its role in the community."

They also have support from Edinburgh-based actress Helen Raw, who hopes to use part of the building to set up the Scottish Actors' Centre, a spin-off from actors' training centres by the same name in London and Manchester.

Ms Colquhoun said the group already had some pledges of funding from sources she could not reveal, but still had a long way to go before it could afford to buy the building. "We're looking to register as a community interest company which will enable us to access a wide range of funding."

DHP director Bruce Hare said he would consider any bid for the property which met both the conservation criteria of the authorities and the commercial requirements of the company.

He said: "What we're doing, by agreement with Historic Scotland with the council and with the knowledge of the Scottish Government, is to undertake the marketing campaign in October and November.

"We'll see if people have got not only interesting proposals but also the funding."Like any building, you can go along and suggest uses and quite often these are all very interesting uses, but it's not meeting the financial criteria."

In August, the Evening News reported that the Elim Pentecostal Church, which already runs a commercial cinema in London, claimed it had offered to buy the venue for 1.8 million, hoping to turn it into a two-screen cinema. DHP insisted "no proper, legal offer" had been received.

For more information on the latest proposal, see www.thenewvictoria.com.