Former nightclub where footballer was stabbed to become cinema

Soda Club, formerly Chicago’s nightclub, where Ryan Passey, 24, was stabbed to death in August 2017- closed in 2020 – and will now be turned into a cinema after approval was granted last week.

The former nightclub fronts up Stourbridge High Street and also forms a long section of the Ryemarket Shopping Centre.

The family of Ryan Passey had asked for the former building to be turned into a community centre in honour of Ryan.

But at a Dudley Council Planning Committee on March 14, agreement was given to plans to open a one-screen cinema on the site.

Recommending approval a planning officer said: “The change of use for use as a cinema is considered to be acceptable in principle.

“It is not envisaged that the new use would have an adverse impact upon the amenity of the occupants of the surrounding uses and, given that it occupies a town centre location it is considered that there is sufficient off-parking available. ”

No external changes are proposed by the applicant to change the frontage of the building which would become Stourbridge’s first cinema since the 1980s.

The council has also requested that no external sound amplification equipment can be used on the site to protect nearby residents from noise pollution.

The venue has also applied for a licence to serve alcohol which would request permission for the sale of alcohol between 9am and 3pm – Monday to Sunday.

The licence would also allow for entertainment to be provided when the premises are open for the sale of alcohol (with any live music restricted until midnight) and to enable the provision of late-night refreshments between 11pm and 3 am – Monday to Saturday.

Chicago’s nightclub closed in late February 2018 after more than 3,500 people signed a petition calling for it to shut down.

It was replaced by Soda Club in 2019 which closed six months later and has since stood vacant.

The cinema is expected to be completed within the next three years.