A POTENTIAL buyer of Slough’s former Beatles gig venue has agreed “willingly” to prevent the demolition and significant alterations to the historic building.
The cash-strapped Slough Borough Council will soon sell-off the Adelphi Theatre in Bath Road to help reduce its £760m borrowing debt.
The last Adelphi in the borough, which operates as a Buzz Bingo Hall, was bought in 2018 by the local authority for £4.6m in order to protect it from development and bring it back to community use.
But when financial constraints made this no longer possible, senior councillors recommended it was sold off during an asset disposal sub-committee meeting on Thursday, January 12.
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It will be sold for about £4m to the highest bidder, who has plans to transform the Adelphi into a banqueting suite to host events and weddings.
There had been concerns the former theatre would be sold to a developer for housing or significant alterations would make the Adelphi unrecognisable.
The Adelphi was built in the 1930s as an independent cinema but saw crowds of people flock to the 2,042 seated auditorium to see the major acts of the 1960s and 1970s, such as the Beatles, Roy Orbison, and even guitar-legend Jimi Hendrix.
However, Pat Hayes, executive director for property, said the buyer, who remains confidential, agreed “willingly” to prevent that from happening in the next five years.
He said: “More people will be able to get to see inside the building and use the building than its current use because bingo is not as popular as it was.”
While a covenant is placed to protect the façade and the Adephi’s interior, development could still happen around the building.
The council is selling the historic building for £600,000 less than what it paid out.
However, councillors say the costs to keep the building running and borrowing to buy it offsets this small loss.
Cllr Rob Anderson (Lab: Britwell & Northborough), lead member for financial oversight, said: “Whilst it would have been lovely to put some funding or the ability to sell [the Adelphi] to an arts venue, that was never going to happen in the current climate due to our financial issues.
“But I think we got a really good result out of this because it’s exactly what we wanted in terms of protection, and it looks like the person who wants to buy it wants to operate it [in a way] that’s entirely sympathetic to the building and the fact that they agreed to this five-year protection shows that they are in no hurry to change that process going through.”
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Meanwhile, deputy council leader Pavitar Kaur Mann (Lab: Britwell & Northborough) said changing the building into a wedding venue “serendipitously” meets a shortfall of those types of venues within the borough.
An application to list the Adelphi nationally, which would further protect the building from development and demolition, was rejected five years ago. But that expires this summer, meaning another application can be made.
The final sign-off to sell the Adelphi will be made at the next cabinet meeting.
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