Hotel plans throw derelict cinema future into doubt

The former Odeon cinema on Crouch Street has been empty since 2002

The future of an abandoned cinema is in doubt after plans to convert a former post office into a hotel were approved.

Plans to build a 75-bed hotel on North Hill in Colchester have been approved by the city council.

Earlier this year, the authority granted planning permission for a hotel to be built at the old Odeon cinema on nearby Crouch Street.

Councillors questioned whether the latest decision would mean the Marriott hotel group would not proceed with the cinema's redevelopment.

Neither proposal was submitted by the hotel chain, but both applications from the buildings owners suggest the hotels would be operated under the Marriott group's Moxy brand.

Colchester City Council has approved plans for the former post office building on North Hill to be transformed into a hotel

At the planning committee meeting, Green Party councillor Kemal Çufoğlu questioned if the plans for the derelict cinema had been dropped in favour of the old Post Office.

In response, planning officer Chris Harden said: "There is a potential for Marriott to be at the Odeon as well but they can apply for as many sites as they like really, and then they can decide which they want to use, if any. Maybe both, maybe neither."

Planning conditions do not dictate that the newly approved hotel must be operated by the Marriott group, Mr Harden explained.

He said the building on North Hill would be extended to include an extra floor and a "larger than ideal" extension which would cause "less than substantial harm" to the area.

'Ideal for our city'

Labour councillor Mike Lilley said he thought it was "one of the best buildings" in the city centre.

"If I was a tourist looking to come to Colchester and I wanted to look at places to go, I’d look at booking a play at the theatre, a band at the arts centre, go to the castle, and when you look for a hotel, this would be ideal for all of that," he said.

Conservative councillor Leigh Tate said: "I hate the four floors… I appreciate the only reason it has to be that size is to make it viable and I think whilst that really, really, really sits uncomfortably with me, it is a necessary evil and so I will have to support it."

The Post Office in North Hill closed in 2018 when a counter service opened in a nearby WH Smith store.

Fay Smalls, another Labour councillor, said she was in support of the application because she did not want the building to fall into the same state of disrepair as the Odeon.

The former cinema has been empty since Odeon moved its operations to nearby Head Street in 2002.

Parts of the disused building have been affected by several fires since then, most recently in July last year.

Mr Çufoğlu was the only councillor to abstain as the committee's other 10 councillors voted in favour of the North Hill proposal.

The BBC has asked Marriott to confirm if it intends to open hotels at both locations.