Funding bid on track for Hull's blitz-hit National Picture Theatre

The National Picture Theatre was bombed in 1941

A campaign to turn a bombed-out cinema into a memorial to life in the Hull blitz could be in line for a lottery grant of £288,000.

The National Picture Theatre, on Beverley Road, has been unused since it was bombed in March 1941.

Hull City Council said it was the "last surviving civilian bomb-damaged building" from World War Two.

The project has received development money from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to prepare detailed plans.

Campaigner Hilary Byers said: "We want to preserve it as a monument. We don't want to change the feel of it."

Grant applications are assessed over two rounds and the project has been awarded an initial grant of £11,200 to progress with plans, according to the HLF.

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If the detailed proposals are backed, the project would be granted £288,900 and be run by the National Civilian WW2 Memorial Trust alongside the city council.

It would include an exhibition space telling the stories of Hull residents' lives during the blitz.

The building's remains are nationally listed

The scheme would revitalise the remains of the Grade II-listed building, according to campaigners.

The cinema had about 150 people inside when it was hit during an air raid but no-one was killed or seriously injured.

Hull suffered its first daylight raid in June 1940 with its last attack in March 1945. The majority of bombing raids on the city took place during 1940 and 1941.

About 1,200 people were killed, 3,000 injured and 152,000 people left homeless, with more than 86,000 houses damaged.

A council spokesman said: "The building is incredibly important to Hull. It is listed nationally and is the last surviving civilian bomb-damaged building from the Second World War."

It could take up to two years for any final grant to be awarded.

Blitz damage in Bean Street, Hull