The Plaza in Northwich given license for new lease of life

The wonderful Art Deco Plaza has been part of Northwich's very fabric since it first opened its doors in 1928.

Having first come to prominence as a cinema, it later became a bingo hall, before the smoking ban led to the doors closing in 2010.

Kyrian Smith (bar manager) Jon Houghton (venue manager) and Rupert Adams (Northwich Rotary) by the stage at the iconic venue with the old electronic bingo board still in situ

After several years in the doldrums, The Plaza creaked back into life when reformed rock wild man Pete Doherty played a sell-out gig at the venue. 

And it is live music that is set to breathe a third lease of life into the old building, after the family who own it secured a license to make it the biggest capacity live events venue around.

Venue manager Jon Houghton explained how the capacity for all future gigs will now be extended to 960 people - double what it had been previously.

"Getting the license has always been the final hurdle for us, because every event we’ve done so far has been at half the capacity of what we can have in the building," he said.

"That means we’ve only been making half the revenue, which means we’ve been limited as to what we can put on.

"We’ll now be the biggest mixed-capacity (both seating and standing) venue which will not just benefit Northwich but the whole area.

"Rupert Adams (Northwich Rotary) helped us out a lot with the paperwork and we've had so much assistance from so many others with re-wiring jobs and regeneration work."

The original cinema seats still in place on the balcony

The building was built and is still owned by the Godfrey family and the decision to move away from bingo was an emotional one.

“Its use as a bingo hall carried a lot of memories for the family,” Jon added.

“Bingo and cinema was their whole set-up. Its been quite an emotional time to tip your hat and say ‘that’s done’.

“Especially for the older generations who associate the building with bingo.

"It has been interesting to see their reaction. This is the building’s third lease of life.

“Having done cinema and then bingo, it is now time for live events."

“We’d like to have regular events on, either weekly or bi-weekly.

"It’s just making sure that what we have on is tasteful and not replicating what is on elsewhere in town."

Kyrian Smith, Rupert Adams, Jon Houghton and Will Godfrey behind the bar with the old cinema mural acting as a poignant reminder to the past

The Plaza with play host to the Museum of the Moon as part of the Now Northwich festival next weekend.

The first full-capacity live music event will be Heaven 17, who play the venue on Friday, August 12.