First blockbusters, then bingo and now bibles
8:18am Monday 10th April 2006 in Latest News By Andrew Westbrook
An artist's impression of how the building would look if permission was granted tor the church.
All sins can be forgiven, it seems, as a former gambling den is set to become a house of God.
Bingo will soon be swapped for bibles as last week Wandsworth Council approved a planning application to convert Battersea's old Granada Cinema, more recently Gala Bingo, into a new home for the 200-strong congregation of the United Pentecostal Church.
Developers Grange Estates will also build a two-storey roof extension and a new three to four-storey building containing 59 flats plus retail, office and restaurant space.
Based in St John's Hill, close to Clapham Junction station, the cinema was originally built in 1937 and became famous for its Komisarjevsky-designed Moorish fantasy in the auditorium.
In 1980 the building changed use and was used as a Gala Bingo hall until 1997.
The plan for the grade II-listed building was given the go ahead due to commitments to both maintain the auditorium and commit money for its upkeep, a prohibitive cost which means there will be no affordable housing.
The council report said: "Although this would mean a departure from policy, we recognise the difficulties surrounding the scheme for reuse and refurbishment of this important local building, and for this reason raise no objection to this part of the proposal."
The building, vacant now for almost a decade, is in a poor state of repair but the developer will pay £480,000 towards the restoration of the auditorium, once a cinema holding 2,500 people, and an additional £20,000 towards ongoing maintenance costs.
Designers Assael Architecture, in the planning application, said: "The only realistic prospect that has emerged is relocation of an existing church.
"Due to the exceptional costs of repair to the existing listed building and the associated benefits to the local community no affordable housing is proposed. The inclusion of affordable housing would be fiscally unviable."
