Twenty potential buyers for Edinburgh cinema

There are around 20 potential buyers interested in the Odeon cinema on Clark Street in Edinburgh, according to reports in The Scotsman Newspaper.

The Grade-B listed building has been on sale since 5 January and the sales agency, Montagu Evans, says the interest has mostly been from leisure developers.

The agency stated, "It really is a bit of a mixed bag. I think it's safe to say the interest is not really for office use because it doesn't really convert well to that. It's more retail, leisure, hotel use among the people who have picked up the phone and spoken to us."

One potential buyer is the Elim Pentecostal Church, which already runs a cinema in Notting Hill, London. The church has plans to turn the art-deco building into a theatre, cinema and community facility. The building is currently owned by Bruce Hare of Duddington House Properties who claims it would cost around £5 million to restore it to its former glory, which many Edinburgh cinema fans would no doubt be keen to see happen.

Hare said that for buyers to be taken seriously they will have to prove they can stump up the £2.93 million asking price. If there are no bids in that region, Hare says he may develop the site himself - into a venue for entertainment firm Luminar.

Meanwhile, in London's Southfields, residents are trying to drum up enough support to buy the ex-Rileys Snooker Club site on Wimbledon Park Road with a view to turning it back into a local cinema. For many years up until the mid 1960's it was operating as the Plaza Cinema, and residents are anxious for the historic site not to be turned into another Tescos outlet, pub or health club.