Plans to build an apartment block on the site of a former nightclub beloved by rockers could kick-start the regeneration of one of Plymouth city centre’s most run-down areas.
The owners of the abandoned and boarded up C103 venue in Union Street, want to to develop it into a five- to seven-storey block of between 60 and 68 flats, with shops on the ground floor – and an eye-catching “green wall” covered in plants.
The club was a popular draw for rockers of all types for more than 20 years, catering for lovers of rock, metal, punk, ska, hardcore and classic rock, and even dubstep and cheesy pop.
Among bands that graced its stage were Stiff Little Fingers, the Men they Couldn’t Hang, Secret Affair and Northern Uproar.
However, the club, like much of the once bustling nightclub area of Union Street, is now in need of some TLC.
C103’s owners stressed that a noise abatement notice, served by Plymouth City Council after the club was closed, and the construction of the nearby Cargo block of flats, and conversion of the next-door former Candy Store club to a residential property, meant the they were never in a position to reopen C103 as a nightspot.
Soundproofing the building would have cost more than £1million and still would not have been possible once the Candy Store became flats.
So an apartment block is the only alternative, and Nick Edwards, project manager on the C103 rebuild, said: “We have no option than to go down the development route.”
He, the owners, and Plymouth architects and building consultants Bailey Partnership have outlined three potential schemes for the building.
The preferred option would see the existing club completely demolished apart from the facade on Union Street and the back wall in the rear access lane.
The ground floor would provide new retail and commercial units facing onto Union Street, “to maintain and enhance the street scene”, and a covered car park to support residential accommodation above.
Floors one to five would comprise 60 flats, mostly two-bed, but 20% of them being one-bed units.
The top floor, level six, would be for eight penthouse apartments, four with two bedrooms and four with three bedrooms.
The other two options also involve knocking down the club, but keeping the Union Street facade, and having shops and commercial units facing out onto the road.
But one idea is for 60 one- and two bedroom flats over five floors, and the other is for 68 flats, again with 60 one- and two-bedroom apartments over five storeys, but adding another eight flats over two further floors of penthouses.
However, C103s owners said the dilapidated state of the former Palace Theatre, a listed Victorian building which is empty and decaying, and only meters from C103, is a hurdle for them.
The owners are concerned about going ahead with what would be a very costly rebuild at C103 if the abandoned theatre, separated from C103 only by the small Ali Baba’s 40 Dishes takeaway, is to remain an eyesore.
Mr Edwards wants someone, whether the council or the theatre’s owner, should carry out a structural survey to prove it is sound before developments can commence nearby.
The decaying theatre has been on the national Theatres at Risk Register for 11 years now and is also on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register.
Plymouth City Council slapped a Section 215 (Untidy Land) Notice on the building in November 2018 requiring work to be carried out to spruce its appearance up.
But not enough was done by the notice’s expiry at the end of March 2019 and the council has made it public that it is now considering taking owner Manoucehr Bahmanzadeh to court.
He has said he wants to refurbish the building but can’t because he is awaiting reports form Historic England.
Mr Edwards fears the theatre, at one time known as the Dance Academy, is structurally unsound and wants some sort of assurance that the theatre will be at least made presentable before any decision is made to start work a couple of doors down. But he would prefer a survey is carried out.
He said merely making a planning application would cost about £120,000 and said C103’s owners are concerned about ploughing time and money into a development which could be hampered by the condition of the Palace Theatre.
“We could have kick-started the regeneration of Union Street.,” he said. “In its current condition the only way forward is for the building to have a structural survey.”
