Nuneaton Ritz first look inside planned restaurant and community hall

The plans show what the exterior and interior of the old Ritz building will look like if the plans receive approval. Revised proposals have been submitted for the prominent building on the doorstep of Nuneaton town centre.

Semichyong UK bought the building for £339,500 on 27 February 2019 and planning proposals have been given conditional approval as early as 2021. But now a new revised application has been submitted to Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council.

This is for it to be used as a restaurant, multi-purpose community hall and to have a residential apartment for visiting speakers/teachers. The plans include 3D images of what the exterior of the building will look like, including the roof.

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They also show images of the interior of the building, which was once home to a movie theater before becoming a bingo hall. Due to the fact that the interior is home to Art Deco, Neo Egyptian and Chinoiserie inspired motifs, the building is listed.

This means that a special permit is required to carry out work on it. The application explains that efforts will be made to reduce the impact of the work required to preserve the building’s history.

However, it states that to make the building “fit for purpose” some internal changes are required. They say that in most cases the walls that need to be removed are walls that were added when the building was converted from a movie theater to a bingo hall.

“Where we intend to remove sections of wall in areas with a decorative ceiling, such as the proposed restaurant area, the walls will only be removed up to door height,” the proposal explains. He adds that this will ensure that the ceiling remains intact.

All new walls will be light studded, with soundproofing where required. In the hall, the height of the stage will be reduced to 1 m above the floor of the hall. This involves the removal of the existing high level stage with bar below, which was installed as part of the bingo hall conversion.

It’s no secret that due to the listed building any work will be expensive. In the application, it is explained that due to costs, the work will take place in stages.

The restaurant and main hall were completed first to bring in cash to finance the remaining work on the rest of the building. City Hall officers are now looking at the plan.

As part of this process, a public consultation takes place. The application and all documents can be viewed on the council’s website under the planning applications section by searching reference number 040314.

The consultation will run until June 25, and the target decision date is July 29.

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