Tom Pate: Time to get reel and ensure an encore for our cinema

It's not too late to save one of Edinburgh's gems from demolition, says Tom Pate

I FIRST knew the Odeon as a schoolboy in the early 1960s when it was still the New Victoria. I used to nip off there on Saturday afternoons when I should have been swimming at Drumsheugh, or watching rugby at Ferryfield.

The original single auditorium was spectacular, with its wide screen for big feature pictures, those iconic statues lining the walls, private boxes along the back of the stalls (so unusual for a cinema) and that beautiful vaulted ceiling full of stars.

In those days, the building was as much a part of the cinema experience as the film - for me, perhaps more so. If the film disappointed, I was happy to wallow in the magnificent surroundings. Years later, I was reminded of that wonderful auditorium as I sat under a heaven full of stars in the great amphitheatre at Epidaurus.

Cinema economics changed and the Odeon was subdivided into three cinemas, then five. But the building had already been recognised as the finest example of the work of WE Trent, one of the great cinema architects, so the original features were all preserved. Behind every addition and change there was a promise that the original single auditorium could one day be restored.

When the Odeon closed in 2003 it was profitable - 750,000 people went through its doors that final year. It no longer fitted the building profile that the then owners wanted, though. The preference was for a production line of modern buildings, built to a formula.

When Duddingston House Properties (DHP) bought the building in 2003, it valued it at 1.5 million knowing it was grade B-listed. As experienced property people, they would also have known of the presumption against demolition inherent in listing, but they submitted applications for demolition of the most important part of the building anyway, preventing Historic Scotland (by a whisker) from upgrading the listing to category A in recognition of its rarity as one of only a handful in Scotland of exceptional national or international importance.

By then DHP had already rejected one offer of 2.75m from a restoring purchaser in 2006, and declined to engage meaningfully with another offering of 1.8 m in 2007.

Two years ago, the planning application was "called in" by Scottish ministers. The independent reporter appointed to review it concluded "the extensive marketing of the building has not fully complied with SHEP (Scottish Historic Environment Policy] requirements. It appears that not all possible alternatives to demolition have yet been explored. I recommend that listed building consent be refused". It was. Announcing its recent decision to re-submit the demolition plan, DHP said "the limited interest shown in the building fell well short of the requirements set by the reporter". This is nonsense. The interest in the building has been positive and from credible buyers with evidence of funding. One offered exactly the value put on the building by a leading and respected firm of commercial property consultants (although not one retained by DHP). For the record, the reporter set no minimum requirements for the sale of the building, beyond the obvious one that every effort should be made to preserve it without demolition. His report is publicly available online.

The identities of three of the bidders for the Odeon are known to me and I have seen their offers. Only one has made their interest public - Sarah Colquhoun from The New Victoria who, with her talented team, has done such a great job raising public awareness - but the second, the Elim Church, is no secret either.

The third bidder has also been urged to go public. Not doing so plays into the hands of DHP, as the real level of interest in the building is not fully appreciated.

It is too much to expect the Odeon to be restored to its original single auditorium glory, at least for now, but that's OK. Restoring it in its current still impressive form is fine and the bigger restoration can wait. What's important is that this unique, irreplaceable and much-loved building should be back where it belongs - at the heart of our community and city, open to all as a thriving centre for cinema and the arts and, importantly, without any need for public subsidy.

Two online petitions to save the Odeon have together gathered more than 8000 signatures so far and demonstrate the groundswell of opposition to DHP's plans, particularly from the people of Southside who are objecting to the latest demolition application in their droves and backing the community council's determination to save this wonderful building.

The problem here is not a lack of interest from buyers, but a determination by DHP not to sell. Meanwhile, the fabric of the building continues to deteriorate.

Most people don't realise that, ultimately, Sir Tom Farmer is the man behind DHP. This son of Leith, deservedly respected for his philanthropy, has the power to overrule this attempt by DHP to destroy one of our Capital's finest and most-loved buildings. DHP should be sent away "tae think again".

n Tom Pate is a spokesman for the Save the Odeon campaign.

THE STORY SO FAR

1930 Cinema opened as The New Victoria

1954 Cinemascope installed

1958 Proscenium theatre widened for South Pacific in 70mm

1964 Renamed the Odeon

1974 Categorised as B-listed by Historic Scotland as "an outstanding example of the work of the most famous British cinema specialists"

1978 Stage deepened to allow for bigger live shows

1982 Subdivided into three screens

1989 Two more screens added in the old stage area

2003 Closed and sold to Duddingston House Properties for 1.5m

2004/05 Used as a temporary Fringe venue during the Festival

2005 Plans first submitted to demolish the historic auditorium