Leisure operator in 'advanced talks' over former Gaumont cinema and Kingdom nightclub in Sheffield

The unnamed company has been talking to the city council for ‘quite a while’ about the site on Barker’s Pool, according to project director Andrew Davison, of Queensberry, the council’s Heart of the City II development partner.

The building has been stripped back to bare concrete and the mirrored glass and distinctive red frame facade has been removed, he added. A new one was on order and due to arrive ‘any week now’.

Installation and preparation of the building was due to finish towards the end of summer, giving time for a new operator to fit it out internally to their own requirements and reopen it in 2024, Mr Davison said. This time last year, developers hoped to reopen the building in summer 2023.

The site was home to the Regent Theatre from 1927. It became the Gaumont Theatre in 1946. Following demolition in 1985, a new building became an Odeon cinema then nightclubs Kingdom and finally Embrace.

The last event was in December 2019. The former cinema today comprises one huge space and a second smaller one.

Mr Davison said the original plan was to knock it down. But it had been retained to save money and be more environmentally friendly.

He added: “It’s been a massive challenge, the building had been adapted once already, from a cinema to a nightclub. But our approach has saved all the embedded carbon. And a lightweight facade, which is due to arrive any week, means no extra support is needed.”