Cheshire West and Chester Council urged to back Odeon option

Mar 10 2011 by David Holmes, Chester Chronicle

Cheshire West and Chester Council urged to back Odeon option

TRADERS from Northgate Street are campaigning for the council to convert the former Odeon into a theatre and cinema.

Cheshire West and Chester Council is still considering whether to choose the Odeon site or build a brand new building on the Little Roodee car park.

Retailers and publicans, backed by ex-MP Christine Russell, have launched a petition to persuade the authority to go for the Odeon option arguing it will boost city centre trade.

Mark Thomas, of Francis Thomas fruit merchants, said of the Little Roodee option: “I can’t see it bringing benefits to any part of the city. At Christmas we had the Christmas fair on Castle Square but as far as we were concerned it might as well not have been happening.”

Neil Owens, co-owner of The Coach House, said: “A lot of business decisions have been taken over the last couple of years on the strength of the Northgate Development bringing this end of town up but so far it hasn’t happened.

“We need a catalyst for investment at this end of town so we can raise the profile of Northgate Street.”

Neil believes a theatre at the Odeon would fit into a cultural quarter with other venues including the upgraded Assembly Rooms in the town hall and the reordered cathedral.

Husband and wife team John and Hilary Wright, of The Pied Bull and Mountford’s newsagents respectively, suggest the Odeon be converted into a theatre just like its sister Odeon at Scarborough, where the majority of playwright Alan Ayckbourn’s work continues to be premiered.

Ms Russell, from the Odeon Action Group, said: “The people are behind us. No-one has ever come over and said ‘I think you are wrong, we prefer the Little Roodee’.”