Former Derbyshire cinema and bingo hall could be turned into a gym

The Grade-II listed former Ritz cinema and bingo hall, on the corner of South Street and Coronation Street in Ilkeston, has been at the centre of plans for the town’s redevelopment for years with a litany of differing ideas for the venue.

A new pitch for the site – which has now been split up into separate shop units, some of which are now occupied by three budding businesses – is for a gym and fitness centre.

The plans, submitted to Erewash Borough Council by Parliament House Limited – based 50 metres from the venue – say the gym scheme would “help secure the long-term future of the building” and “inject additional life and commerce in the immediate area through a much-welcomed increase in local footfall”.

A report submitted by the owners details: “The Bingo Hall has stood empty since its closure in 2018, which has led under previous ownerships to a period of neglect and a general lack of maintenance to the building fabric, internally and externally.

“Lack of occupation is now resulting in regular break-ins by local hooligans, who are unfortunately carrying out wanton vandalism, despite numerous attempts to keep them out by the current owner and continued police surveillance.”

The report says a gym and fitness centre operator has already expressed interest in the building, following a marketing exercise, and wants to move in as soon as possible.

As part of the conversion the existing stage and refreshment kiosk would be removed while the glazed screen between the former cafe and main auditorium would be partially removed.

The application does not include any parking spots and does not detail how many jobs the gym and fitness centre could create.

Last summer the council had seen the Ritz, built in 1938, as a focal point for the town’s redevelopment, detailing that it was “deteriorating” and that the cost of refurbishment after five years of being derelict outweighed the potential value to businesses – unless there was an injection of public funding.

It claimed that without a “public subsidy” “the property will continue to deteriorate and have a negative effect on the adjacent high street”. The council had aimed to buy the building, fully refurbish it and let it back out to a “food court, market hall or entertainment venue operator”.

However, this overall £20 million funding bid to central Government, including other town centre improvements such as buying and re-letting long-term empty shops, was rejected in January.

In May last year, Parliament House Limited had submitted plans to the borough council to turn the venue into a pub, ideally run by Wetherspoon, also citing a need to stop “wanton vandalism” from “hooligans”.

It said in planning reports that the first phase of the scheme was to develop three shop units on the ground floor, the rent from which would fund phase two, a large fourth unit to be used as a “drinking establishment”. These plans appear to have been scrapped.

The Ritz operated as a cinema from 1938 to 1968 and then ran as a bingo hall until its closure in 2018 due to “a decline in business”. The first film shown at the venue was Stella Dallas, with British film star Victor McLaglen as the “guest of honour”, with a capacity of 1,400 customers.