Wolverhampton's Scala cinema frontage to be bulldozed at last

The last remaining part of a 98-year-old cinema in the Black Country is to be bulldozed – two years after plans to use it in a new hotel were scrapped.

The former Scala cinema frontage in Worcester Street, Wolverhampton city centre, was meant to be incorporated into a new 75-bedroom Ramada Hotel after developers Fortmere attempted to preserve it. But Wolverhampton City Council has now acquired the site for itself and asked its own planning department for permission to knock it down.

The original plans for the £35 million Triangle development were drawn up in 2006 but abandoned three years later.

The council insisted at the time that if the Scala was to be re-used that its "prominence in the streetscene" should be retained.

The Scala cinema was originally called The Picturedrome when it opened in 1913.

It was a 1,200-seater building and was re-named Scala after the First World War. It closed as a cinema in 1956 but was re-used in various forms including as a bingo hall, shops and night club.