30th January 2012
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As a Northgate Street business owner and resident of Chester City centre I think it's a crying shame to see the old Odeon cinema building sitting unused. It's also a terrible shame that there is no cultural, arts or theatre offering in Chester whatsoever - unbelievable!
The council, having acknowledged the need for arts/cultural offering in the city have shortlisted 2 sites for redevelopment of this kind. The two shortlisted sites are the roodee car park (south of the city - by the river) and the old Odeon building.
I'm really pleased to hear all of this, and debate over the exact loction of the thing should not deter from the good news that something seems to be happening - after all, there are probably not that many councils kicking off such financially demanding plans.
Investment like this should carry as much as possible by way of added benefits for the city centre - increasing foot-fall and business for all. As such, a city-centre based location seems logical to me. If there also happens to be a perfect sized, iconic, well known site, ripe for re-development and sat empty, then I don't see a lot of strength in the argument for the alternative.
A vibrant and busy Odeon building with a cultural slant would be fantastic for Northgate Street and the city centre as a whole - the city is crying out for something like this to give it back some identity.
Please sign the councils online petition to support the redevelopment of the odeon site - link here:
I am assured that signing this petition will make a real difference.
Ben