Nottingham City Council are considering plans for new apartments on Woodborough Road, after proposals were submitted for a three-block seven-apartment complex surrounding the historic Majestic Cinema. The proposed plans stress that the cinema, which is a Grade II listed building, will remain as it stands, and the construction of the apartments will not damage either the image or integrity of the historic site.
This follows a campaign by local residents in 2019, who fought for the site to remain standing after initial plans by developers to demolish the building entirely and replace it with apartments. Middlesex-based RAAM Properties Ltd, the developers looking to build the one and two-bedroom apartments in Mapperley, see the plans as a means to rejuvenate the area while understanding the local significance of the site.
In their planning documents, they said: “The significance of this building as a piece of our heritage has been considered throughout the design phase. The proposed new buildings will not compromise its image nor its integrity. In fact, the investment will be of significant benefit to the area in general and the listed building consequence. We believe the requalification of this brownfield site, which has been vacant for a few years and is in a dilapidated state, will overall contribute to the conservation of the heritage asset for the foreseeable future.”
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Local reaction to the new proposals is much more mixed than it was in 2019, in part due to the retention of the cinema. Mapperley resident Paula Cross, 69 and retired, said: “I don’t know anything about architecture, but I love old buildings – so I just want that cinema to stay standing.
“I do think though, when they build something really modern next to something like this (the cinema), it’s an aberration – that shouldn’t happen. I’m mostly disappointed that the old cinema isn’t in use anymore, I wish somebody with some money would buy it and do something with it.”
Steph Jimminson, 29, is also a Mapperley resident, as well as a stay-at-home mum, and she welcomed the new apartments, saying: “I think it’d be great to have more affordable apartments there if that’s possible. With all the hikes at the minute, people need to have more places to live. I don’t care about the cinema though, it doesn’t affect me at all.”
Meanwhile, Anthony John Newman of Mapperley, 77 and retired, was more muted about the plans: “It’s the same as everywhere, all the pubs have gone, everything’s being pulled down. Get on with it. They can build what they want.”
The Majestic Cinema closed in 1953 before being taken over by the Haunted Museum and Oddities in 2018, which later moved into the city centre in 2021.
