Public inquiry into flats plan for cinema hit during Blitz

Efforts to turn the National Picture Theatre in Hull into a memorial to the 1,200 civilians who died in the German bombardment of the city were plunged into uncertainty last September after councillors backed two rival proposals.

The grade two listed cinema is the only Blitzed civilian building ruin left standing in England and has been described as of “iconic importance”.

Yesterday was the deadline for negotiations between Hull Council and the owner.

National Civilian WW2 Memorial Trust secretary Alan Canvess said he was disappointed after being told the owner was holding out for £250,000.

He said: “The council had obtained pledges of funding from various sources. They did offer to up the figure a little bit, but the owner has refused to even discuss a small increase.

“Obviously we are disappointed because this would have enabled us to move forward now.

“We have now get to make the best possible case that we can at inquiry, with the help of English Heritage and the public.”

Mr Canvess said a district valuer has estimated the building to be worth £130,000 without planning permission and £150,000 with.

The trust’s plans to turn the building on Beverley Road into a memorial and educational resource for schoolchildren were unanimously passed, but councillors at the same meeting approved alternative plans by owner Reid Park Properties, which wants to put up a new building behind the old frontage, with a restaurant downstairs and six flats upstairs.

English Heritage objected to the owner’s plans as had two of the city’s MPs Alan Johnson and Diana Johnson. The theatre has lain untouched since it was attacked by the Luftwaffe at about 10pm on March 17, 1941, as an audience was showing Charlie Chaplin’s satire The Great Dictator. Remarkably all 150 people survived.