This week I wandered down to the abyss – Bradford city centre – for the first time in a few years. I packed my United Nations phrase book, stuck the sign on my back saying “crap phone, no need to mug” and set off to Cllr Ear Ring’s Utopia.
And would you believe it? Rising from the hole in the ground at long last is the framework of the new Westfield shopping centre.
Cutting across town I also noticed City Hall was shrouded in a canopy too; was t’Town Hall getting a facial or were they just entombing the Great Leader?
And then, there it was, dominating the horizon almost like a vast mountain range; the old Odeon cinema, standing defiant awaiting news of a possible bright future after years on Death Row.
Truly a beautiful, magnificent building, I stood rooted to the spot slavering like Kevin McCloud over a refurbished portakabin in North London.
I swear a shiver shot down my spine in the imposing presence of this rare architectural gem (stop trying to sound like Kev…Ed) and for a minute I ignored the local winos pissing nearby (that’s better…Ed).
Most of the buildings that have been built over the last fifty years in Bradford resemble the efforts of a three year-old on crack cocaine. However, the Odeon is unique, spectacular and nothing will ever be built like it again.
To contemplate knocking it down – as the halfwits that “run” the city have done for years in search of a quick buck and devoid of any ounce of vision – would be like demolishing the Vatican in Rome.
The long-running saga concerning the future of the building continues though. Only one contender – Bradford Live – remains in the race to save it from the wrecking balls.
They are proposing a mid-sized 4,000 capacity venue to bring this iconic building back to life. It is ambitious, bold and exciting but there is a long way to go.
This is a stunning old building neglected shamefully by successive councils for many years now. In a city centre bereft of much beauty or attractions of any note, it’s restoration and rebirth is key to Bradford’s future, much more than a new Next store.
As much as the city’s landscape is now dotted with shiny mosques reflecting the changing face of Bradford, there is no good reason why we should not celebrate and preserve it’s glorious past as well.
My interest in this building was stirred a few years ago by an article in Private Eye (1314) which also suggested some very unsavoury goings on as it rotted, sad and abandoned, for years.
Weary of shady, incompetent councillors and pie in the sky proposals dreamt up by unelected quangos with no motive other than crude political and financial gain, Bradford has suffered more than most.
The Odeon, originally the New Victoria, was built in 1930. It is the last remaining building designed by the prominent Bradfordian architect, Alderman William Illingworth.
The domed landmark boasted an Italian Renaissance interior design and fantastic furnishings throughout.
It was the first in the country to be fitted with Cinemascope in 1954. The Beatles performed in 1963 and in 1969 it was split into Odeon 1 and 2; in 1988 the redundant ballroom was converted into the Odeon 3.
In 1997 Top Rank Bingo (the owners of the Odeon) ceased trading and the closure of the cinema followed in 2000. In 2003 it passed into public ownership and the hands of the now defunct quango, Yorkshire Forward (YF).
Fantasy
In 2004, a consultation exercise, carried out after the hopeless and ridiculous Bradford Centre Regeneration (BCR) plan was unveiled, found that the future of the Odeon was top of peoples’ concerns.
The plan, a scaled up Legoland, was produced by Alsop Architects (who also produced a plan for Barnsley claiming it to be the Tuscany of the North…more Southern bollocks) and jointly funded by Yorkshire Forward and Bradford Council.
Neither of these grand plans ever came to anything other than fat cheques to architects and consultants who disappeared to foist their crap ideas on other cities.
Dream On
Those old enough to remember when Bradford was home to outstanding Victorian architecture also remember the wanton destruction of the Sixties and the ugly concrete blocks that followed. Bradford was the swan that turned into the ugly duckling.
It seemed those in control were hell bent on flattening the Odeon as part of their grand plan and for years the public were misinformed and misled.
In 2005, instigated by YF/BCR, a report by structural engineers Arup suggested that the building would cost too much to renovate. It concluded the only options were to demolish the whole building or keep only the facade.
The cost was put at £3.6m to save the towers but demolition was £1.4m – a net cost of just over £2m, modest in the context of the £30m spent on the pond in front of City Hall for the winos to bathe in only a few years later.
The T&A – Mouthpiece Of The City?
In 2006 plans to revamp the city’s St George’s concert hall were revealed. Private Eye suggested the apathy towards the campaign to save the Odeon from local paper The Telegraph & Argus (T&A), was because it may have had a conflict of interest.
Any redevelopment of the St George’s site could involve the adjacent and redundant press halls of the T&A.
Several quotes from the T&A suggested its editorial had become a mouthpiece for YF/BCR and I wrote to the T&A asking for clarity but strangely no reply. What is certain is that at no time did the local rag suggest this great building had a future.
Apparently consultants looked at several options including building a new purpose-built concert hall and converting the Odeon building but decided that St George’s, which dates back to 1853, was the best choice.
This plan was estimated at costing between £5-10m. In a City desperately in need of a venue of capacity, they were suggesting tarting up a building that would serve no such purpose and holds barely 1500.
Meanwhile, Leeds was on with plans to build an arena much needed to attract larger events away from Sheffield and Manchester. Bradford dithered and dithered.
Roll Up, Roll Up For The Great Carve Up
It was then that yet another new plan was announced for the Odeon site, one that appalled most as it would flatten the old building. This included a hotel, restaurants and galleries and was to be called New Victoria Place.
Frankly, it was just another fast-buck scheme from property developers who thought they were kings.
Fast forward again and all the main parties behind New Victoria Place have either gone bust or been dismantled but the twin towers, although shrouded in a canopy for many years, remained defiantly upright.
As the Quangos were flattened with much greater ease than the Odeon, responsibility reverted back to the Council and with recent developments there is no case now for either a hotel or shopping development.
Leeds completed its new 13,500 seat Arena attracting Bruce Springsteen no less, pushing Bradford further into the shadows. At St George’s Hall all there remains on offer are a bunch of tribute acts the X-Factor would struggle to accommodate.
Bradford is a city that is in desperate need of revival. The Westfield shopping centre may well be pushing ahead now but that is not enough in itself. So what better attraction than the restoration of the iconic Odeon as a premier entertainments venue?
City Of Hope?
A major UK city that is home for over half a million people needs desirable and safe places to be entertained and shop.
The Council, if it had any ounce of vision, should surely see the connection between Westfield and a rebuilt Odeon, adjacent to the Alhambra Theatre and the National Museum of Film & Photography. Even Leeds could not boast this collection.
There are few buildings left like the Odeon nationally and Bradford is not flush with the noteworthy or unique. It could be a shining light in a new future but Bradford has a recent history littered with grand plans that came to nothing.
Should this come off, Bradford would have an entertainments corner to be proud of and with architecture of stand out quality.
Be brave, be bold and show the vision that our forefathers did so spectacularly.
FOOTNOTE
You might find the attached piece – http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/architecture/britains-most-underrated-buildings-9773580.html – of interest too. It appears the national press get it even if the dimwits at City Hall struggle.
And Finally!
Funny how life can go full circle? Driving the old folks down to the Cotswolds the other weekend I found myself soothing them with “nearly there…only an hour left…need a stop just let me know”.
It brought back memories of family holidays where a trip to Butlins, Skegness took five hours largely because it took my Dad three hours to realise his navigator – my Mum – had the map upside down.
Tied up and gagged in the hatchback of the Ford Capri were me and Our Kid so that – knowing we were off again to Stalag Skegness – we could not escape and attempt to throw ourselves onto the open road; anything but Butlins!
Paul Farndale says
My dad saw Buddy Holly there in 1957. The support act was one Des(perate) O’Connor!
buddy holly says
1958 not 1957