Stafford Sandonia owner: 'I will not demolish without permission'
The owner of Stafford's historic Sandonia Cinema has promised not to bulldoze it before getting planning permission.
David Parker was furious to see reports he had ordered the demolition machines into the Sandon Road landmark.
However, Mr Parker told the Express & Star he still plans to demolish the building but only when he gets permission from Stafford Borough Council.
He said: "I would not demolish without planning permission. I had it last year briefly, but I will do everything properly.
"I have not sent machines there, and I would know. We have been taking down the scaffold. That's it."
Mr Parker is determined to redevelop Sandon Road and believes the cinema is standing in the way of progress.
He said: "We cannot keep the frontage of the building. It is an inpossibility. We are not building apartments. My condition for sale is that small houses are built with gardens. This is what Stafford needs, affordable housing. People do not want flats anymore, the pandemic proved that, they want gardens.
"People who live around the site want rid of it. The majority want it gone. The protestors who want to keep do not live anywhere near the building, I checked the people who objected."
He added: "I have not sold the building either, the sale to a housing association is subject to planning permission."
"I have been in this area for 35 years, this development could help bring back families into the area, it could encourage other businesses to open."
The Sandonia opened as a theatre in 1920 and was converted to a cinema three years later, although it continued to stage live shows.
It became a bingo hall in 1962, and was later used as a snooker hall before its closure about 20 years ago and has been abandoned ever since, prompting some local residents to brand it an “eyesore”.
However, last year conservationists succeeded in stopping the building's demolition and heritage organisations backed the campaign to save the Sandonia.
