THE team hoping to turn Bradford’s former Odeon back into a live venue is preparing to reveal the original auditorium, which has been hidden for decades.

Not-for-profit organisation Bradford Live has secured planning permission which will allow it to demolish the 1960s inserts which divided the space into two cinemas and a bingo hall.

While the internal works do not require planning consent, Bradford Live had applied for permission to knock a hole in the wall behind the stage, getting demolition kit in and the steelwork out.

The hole will go on to form the entrance for stage rigging.

Lee Craven, director of Bradford Live, said they were inviting demolition contractors to tender for the job and hoped for work to start on-site in the New Year.

He said it would take four to five months to complete.

He said: “It’s an incredible space, and one which hasn’t been seen since 1968, so some Bradfordians remember it but a whole generation has grown up, myself included, who have never seen that space.

“Those who have seen it say it is an astonishing size.

The Odeon is big but when you get in, it is a Tardis-like building, it’s even bigger on the inside.”

The work is being funded thanks to a £325,000 investment from the Local Growth Fund, which is overseen by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership.

This will be in the form of either a grant or loan.

Mark Nicholson, of the Bradford Odeon Rescue Group, said he had been waiting for 15 years to see the auditorium revealed.

He said: “We have been tantalised by the ballroom and the restaurant and while these are very impressive things in their own right the auditorium will be the big wow factor.”

The building itself is still owned by Bradford Council, which chose Bradford Live as a preferred bidder after an open contest to take on the project.

Bradford Live’s business plan would see a commercial operator fund a large portion of the work.

Mr Craven said negotiations with potential operators were still under way.

Bradford Live also plans to make a fresh application for Lottery funding, after getting a bid for £5m refused earlier this year.