Mr Smith's building officially saved!

WARRINGTON’S iconic Mr Smith’s nightclub has now officially been saved from the bulldozers and will be transformed into a Youth Zone – and a new home for Warrington Youth Club.
Warrington Borough Council’s Executive Board last night (Monday) unanimously approved a £3 million capital investment to help renovate the building and get the facility up and running.
The building’s owners the Pervaiz Naviede Family Trust have confirmed the sale of the building for £1.2 million to the Newton-le-Willows based Vimto drinks company who will donate the building back to the community on a 125 year lease deal, involving a peppercorn ren.
As exclusively reported by warrington-worldwide last week, it will provide a new home for the Youth Club, which will move from its existing base at the Peace Centre.
The council has been approached by Onside Youth Zones to work in partnership with the youth club and members of the local business community to create a youth zone within the former nightclub.
Onside Youth Zones are modeled on the successful Bolton Lads and Girls Club, with five Youth Zones already thriving in the North West.
The other Youth Zones in Blackburn, Carlisle, Manchester, Oldham and Wigan, have each gone on to generate £500k of private sector funding each year since opening. Warrington is part of a plan to create 20 Youth Zones nationally by 2020.
It is anticipated that the Warrington Youth Zone would attract 3,000 members in the first year, create additonal employment opportunities at the youth club in addition to high quality and developmental volunteering opportunities for community members with associated training and support. Trustees would be drawn from the local local business community, with a strong representation from the council.
In July the Salford Quays based LPC Living Ltd gave notice of demolition to Warrington Borough Council. As the building was not listed there were no powers to stop the demolition going ahead, although campainers launched a facebook group in a bid to save the building which shot to fame in the 1980s with the “Hitman and her” show featuring Pete Waterman and and Michaela Strachan.
Mr Waterman is believed to be one of the group of businessmen who will contribute towards the cost of setting up the Youth Zone.
Mr Smith’s was formerly the Ritz and then the ABC cinema before it shot to fame in the 1980s, attracting large numbers of revellers each week.
More recently, it had short openings as Synergy and Halo nightclubs in the late 2000s but never attracted the same numbers to make it a viable business.
Warrington council failed in an attempt to buy the building in 2011 when it wanted to include the site in its plans to improve the waterfront area next to the Mersey.
They council was prepared to pay around £500,000 for the building at the time which eventually went for in the region of £1 million.
The building opened in August 1937 as a 1,928 seat cinema and the first film starred Robert Armstrong Without Orders and Chester Morris “I promise to pay.”