Christmas D-day for Nuneaton town centre regeneration

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Christmas D-day for Nuneaton town centre regeneration

Postby dutchman » Wed Nov 15, 2017 11:15 pm

The Ritz, Kingsholme pub and Abbey Street car park are on the plan

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Developers will be on board to breathe much-needed life back into a once majestic building and forgotten area of Nuneaton town centre by Christmas next year.

That is according to Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council which has set itself an ambitious date of December 2018 to ‘secure the development’ of the former Ritz, ex Kingsholme pub site and the Abbey Street car park.

Developing the Upper Abbey Street area has been high on the council’s agenda for a number of years but no projects have ever got off the ground.

But now the Town Hall has set itself a target of getting a developer and investor on board by Christmas next year to finally get the ball rolling.

A spokesperson for the local authority said: “Work is being taken forward to secure the development of the scheme with the occupiers, contractors and partner agencies. The December 2018 target is to 'secure the development', the first stage in the process. Once this has been achieved a detailed work programme can be produced.

“Cabinet will be kept informed of progress.”

It has been a decade since the once majestic Ritz was last in use and, despite several attempts to get it re-opened, nothing has yet come to fruition.

Opened in July 1937, it was built by the Union Cinemas Circuit but was quickly taken over by Associated British Cinemas (ABC).

The epitome of class and comfort, its impressive, plush interior attracted cinema goers from far and wide and it had a majestic Compton Organ that rose from an orchestra pit.

But cinemas declined and the Ritz closed in 1984 when it was sold and re-opened as the Ritz Bingo Club and then became the Gala Bingo Club. until it closed at the end of 2007.

The building has been on the market ever since and forms part of Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council's Upper Abbey Street regeneration plan, which also includes the former Kingsholme pub, a once popular watering hole and part of the famed ‘Abbey Run’, which has stood empty years.

Also included within the planned regeneration area is the Abbey Street car park, known to many as the Co-op car park. This is the only element of the project that still remains in use.

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Re: Christmas D-day for Nuneaton town centre regeneration

Postby dutchman » Wed Nov 15, 2017 11:48 pm

Abbey Street circa 1961

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Re: Christmas D-day for Nuneaton town centre regeneration

Postby dutchman » Thu Feb 15, 2018 6:29 pm

Council pays £6,000 A MONTH to firm responsible for long-awaited town centre regeneration

Council bosses are paying £6,000 A MONTH to a firm that has been trying to get a developer on board to regenerate a part of Nuneaton town centre for SIX years.

It has been revealed that Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council has made payments of up to £50,000 to the SJI Group Limited, which has been promoting the much-maligned Upper Abbey Street development since 2011.

The Telegraph has previously reported that the council hopes to have a developer on board by this Christmas but, up to now, there have been no concrete plans revealed about any developer interest in the site.

Michele Kondakor made the revelation at the full council meeting last night and said that, according to Companies House, the St James Developments Limited was wound-up on June 7 2016, St James Investment Limited was wound up by order of the courts in December 2016 and that St James Group Limited was almost struck off the register in October last year but had a reprieve.

“I suspect it is only trading due to the monthly payments of £6,000 from this council,” she said.

“Every year we see no progress and nothing comes of the pre-election ‘good news’.

“It is clearly time for the council to end the secrecy around its failed projects. It is also time to have a reality check instead of just moving onto some other vanity project while still paying for old mistakes.”

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Re: Christmas D-day for Nuneaton town centre regeneration

Postby dutchman » Fri Apr 19, 2019 1:44 pm

New owners of iconic Nuneaton building revealed

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The new owners of a once majestic building in Nuneaton town centre have finally been revealed.

Documents obtained by CoventryLive from the Land Registry show that the land and building on the north east side of Abbey Street, known locally as the old Ritz Cinema, has been bought by Semichyong UK, a Co-operative Society registered to an address in Caroline Close.

It was bought for £339,500 on February 27 this year, after more than a decades' uncertainty surrounding what will happen to the former cinema and bingo hall.

CoventryLive contacted Semichyong UK to find out more about what it plans for the building.

A spokesperson said that the plans are in their infancy and it is 'too early' for them to be shared.

However, they did say they are planning something 'which could benefit both the wider public as well as the members of the community'.

According to the Semichyong UK page on Facebook, the group is affiliated to Master Godangel, described as spiritual master and patron saint of Heavenly/Nirvana Path.

There have been previous attempts to open a temple in Nuneaton, on land near to Wembrook Community Centre, but they have never taken off.

In the past weeks, activity at the building has been noticed, with cleaners coming and going.

And on April 7 the doors were open and work men were seen going in.

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