The curtain has finally been raised on a Black Country music venue following a £1million redevelopment masterminded by a top designer.

Cradley Heath’s Regis suite was opened in a ceremony attended by business leaders today following six months of work.

Bewdley designer-architect Terry Glazebrook, who has worked on luxury retreats on Barbados for the likes of comedian Jasper Carrott and golfer Ian Woosnam, has been working on the site for nearly six months.

At today’s ceremony, 30 leading business people from the region endorsed the “remarkable entrepreneurial spirit” of new owners Tony Billingham and Carole Jenkins. 

The couple saved the building from the axe in March when they bought the former British Restaurant at auction from Sandwell Council for £500,000.

At a lunch hosted by the business partners, who run nursing and care homes as part of the Halesowen-based Carlton Care Group, guests were treated to a guided tour of the once rundown Northern Soul landmark in Reddall Hill Road.

Mr Glazebrook, who has worked with enterytainment group Bourne Leisure for 40 years, has overseen an Art Deco makeover at the Regis, known locally as the Civic. 

Everything from the toilets to the kitchen and cellars have been work on, in what Mr Billingham, an established jazz saxophonist, described as “a five-star approach”. The Billingham-Jenkins partnership intend to marry day care with the sounds of big band swing at the Regis, as well as using it to stage conferences and weddings.

Speaker at the lunch, Mr Ian Brough, director of external affairs with Richardsons LLP of Oldbury, said: “What you see is an example of Carole and Tony’s remarkable entrepreneurial spirit at work.” 

Last month, Mr Billingham and Mrs Jenkins signed a 12-month contract with Sandwell social services to provide day care facilities at the Regis for a dozen clients and their carers, transferred from the now-closed Birchfield Care Home, Rowley Regis. 

Mr Billingham said: “Seeing the place like this – with the very best of materials used – is wonderful. We want to revive the glory days of swing and big bands.”