Campaign group to submit plans for preservation of Blitz ruins

CAMPAIGNERS trying to save one of the last surviving ruins of the Blitz from the hands of developers are about to submit their own plans to Hull Council for approval.

A decision by planning committee members last year to allow the bomb-damaged National Picture Theatre and Swan Inn public house in Beverley Road, Hull, to be turned into flats and a restaurant sparked a public outcry.

The theatre, which has lain virtually untouched since it was bombed by the Luftwaffe on March 17, 1941, is one of only 20 of its kind to have survived in the country.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The National Civilian WW2 Memorial Trust has now raised 1,500 – enough to fund their own planning application – which they hope will go before a planning meeting at the authority in October.

Among the donations was 100 from the screen and stage writer Alan Plater just days before his death in June aged 75. Mr Plater was born in Jarrow-on-Tyne, although his family moved to Hull in 1938.

The trust wants to preserve the cinema as a memorial to the 1,200 civilians who died in the Nazi bombardment and as an educational facility for the younger generation.

The adjacent inn, Hull and East Yorkshire's last remaining bow-fronted pub, would be turned into a micro-brewery, where courses in brewing could be held.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Under the plans the theatre's handsome brick frontage would be conserved and inside the foyer would be lit and films projected onto the walls.

Trust secretary Alan Canvess said they were hoping for a pre-application meeting with the council in September.

Mr Canvess said: "We hope that when we get it in and approved it will be another step to persuade the council and the public we are serious. There's always the thought that it's just a small group of people and they are not going anywhere with it. We want to prove that we are serious about this project and it gives us a springboard to the the next step – trying to achieve the 750,000 that we need."

The two buildings are currently on the market for 230,000.

Mr Canvess added: "We raised the money in a fairly short time since publishing the leaflets – they have come from all over the country, including Scotland. Alan Plater and his partner sent us 100 the week before he died."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Canvess admitted it was a struggle to get through the complicated process of raising funds and said they were forming an education sub-group, with a teacher on board, to nail down the most important aspect where funding bodies were concerned, education: "If you can prove to people making grants that it will be an educational facility, grants are available.

"None of these grants are given without a detailed application. An education sub group will hopefully give us the expertise none of us possess."

Although many residents want the building preserved and it was given grade two listing in 2007, Hull's planning committee backed redevelopment proposals, despite objections from organisations including the Ancient Monuments Society, the Council for British Archaeology and Save Britain's Heritage.

The committee took the unusual step in 2007 of supporting an appeal by the owners to have the listing removed and then committee chairman John Fareham referred to it as a "badge of shame".

For more information – or to make a donation to the appeal – visit http://ncww2mt.freewebspace.com/ Anyone who donates more than 30 gets a mention on the site.

Related topics: