An Art Deco building created as a cinema but latterly used as an auction house is to get a new lease of life as a wine merchants and apartments thanks to a £4m investment.

Family-owned Tanners Wines Ltd of Shrewsbury is to open in what was Bonhams auction house in Christleton Road, Boughton, this August, with 10 loft apartments to the rear due for completion in October.

The large property was built as a cinema but never used for that purpose due to the outbreak of war in anticipation of expected air raids. Three weeks later, when these failed to occur, they were allowed to re-open but by that time the premises had already been leased for the duration of the war as a store.

The building has been occupied by a variety of businesses over the years including Phillips auctioneers and Blockbuster video. Until recently it housed Bonham’s Chester saleroom.

Interesting building

Steve Roberts, finance director of Hilbre Estates and Overlea Estates, hopes the new development will give a ‘lift’ to the area.

He said: “We are building it now. We are slightly different in that we could make more money building an easier scheme than that. It’s not a listed building but we’ve tried to be sympathetic to its Art Deco features. We’d never done an Art Deco building before.”

Steve said it was ‘an interesting building’ to develop.

“Tanners is an old Shrewsbury-based wine merchants and it’s a fourth generation family-owned business that’s been going since the 19th century and they’ve got a different style about them. They’re very old school,” he added. “Hopefully we’ve created an interesting facade and kept the original features.”

Apartments will range from £160,000-£260,000. Steve points to the opening of landmark Waitrose down the road as a draw factor for potential buyers.

He speculates that plans for a Tesco Express in part of the adjacent Jewson’s DIY store is not likely to go ahead as a result of the company’s restructure but expects another chain will open a local convenience store in the same location.

Tesco spokesperson Alec Brown said this week: “We are currently reviewing timescales concerning our development for the store on Christleton Road. We will update the community as soon as we have more information.”