Bradford Odeon.....a possible live music venue?

Details of a new bid to regenerate The Bradford Odeon by a local businessman as revealed in The Telegraph & Argus would be great news for both local musicians and fans.....

The new plan to restore Bradford’s former Odeon building is to be revealed in detail at a launch event.

The scheme aims to show how a world class live music venue, which would hold 3,500 people, could be created within the 1930s building.

It is the result of two years’ work by Bradford businessman Lee Craven to find a modern, viable use for the building, which has lain empty for a decade.

Mr Craven, a director of family textile firm Jessgrove, based in Great Horton, told the T&A he had first become interested in the future of the Odeon after taking on an earlier Bradford cinema restoration project – The Plaza at Cross Lane – which is now home to the Joshua Project.

He said: “When we managed to find the experts who could advise us, I asked whether a viable use could be found for the Odeon building. They came back and said we think it would work well as a live venue of that size.”

One sticking point could be the structural condition of the building, as Mr Craven’s team has not had access to it.

“We won’t know for sure until our engineers have been in, but nothing has come up so far that’s not insurmountable.”

The businessman has put together a team including the country’s leading experts in auditorium renovation and restoration, and in the financing and management of live performance venues.

They hope to use a public-private financing model, similar to that used in the creation of the Leeds Arena and the refurbishment of the Barbican in York, to restore the Odeon.

Full details of the scheme are expected to be unveiled at the meeting, which takes place at the Midland Hotel at 10am on Wednesday.

They hope to use a public-private financing model, similar to that used in the creation of the Leeds Arena and the refurbishment of the Barbican in York, to restore the Odeon.

Full details of the scheme are expected to be unveiled at the meeting, which takes place at the Midland Hotel at 10am on Wednesday.

The opportunity to save the 1930s building comes after the Homes and Communities Agency, which owns it, terminated a long-standing legal agreement in September with developer Langtree, which had wanted to demolish the building and build a £40 million New Victoria Place development of offices, a hotel and apartments.

Bradford Council is considering an offer from the HCA to take the building on for £1 plus £100,000 of maintenance cash.

In order to make a decision, the authority has appointed consultants White Young Green to undertake a structural survey of the building, the results of which are expected back early in the new year.

Thanks to The Telegraph & Argus for this article