Dozens of firefighters tackle blaze at empty Birmingham cinema
Fire broke through the roof of the Royalty Cinema in Harborne.
A large fire has torn through an empty Art Deco cinema in Birmingham.
West Midlands Fire and Rescue service (WMFRS) said about 50 firefighters had been tackling the “severe” blaze that engulfed the Royalty Cinema in Harborne in the early hours of Wednesday.
Images showed smoke pouring from the roof of the building, which opened as a cinema in the 1930s.
WMFRS said it had a number of crews to the scene before raising the number of pumps to eight.
The fire service said at around 4.10am that the fire had been brought under control, but warned locals that there was still a lot of smoke and advised them to keep windows and doors closed.
The High Street in Harborne was closed while crews worked at the scene.
A group campaigning for the “beautiful” building to be renovated said they hoped it could still be saved.
“We’re devastated to hear of the fire at the Royalty during the night,” the Royalty Harborne group said on Facebook.
“We want to thank the fire services for their hard work and hope the damage is not too extensive.”
