A BUILDING that housed one of Bradford’s most iconic nightclubs, hosted music superstars including Chuck Berry and the Human League, and featured in classic films, may soon be brought back to life after a decade of standing empty.

110 Manningham Lane has gone by many names in its rich history, including the Mecca, Maestro’s, Pennington’s Live and most recently the Town & Country Club.

But the building closed over a decade ago, and has since fallen into dereliction, becoming an eyesore on one of the main routes into the city centre.

Now new plans to refurbish and reopen the building, which has almost 2,000 square metres of floor space, have been submitted to Bradford Council.

Sukhi Singh, of S&A Developments, has revealed plans to change the use of the building from a nightclub to assembly and leisure use.

The application says it will be used for “live sit-down concerts, business conference facilities and some of the smaller banqueting events”.

It says the group plans to make a “significant investment” in the building to create a “quality venue with a multitude of uses”.

The two-storey building, which has a capacity of 3,000, was used as a ballroom in the 1960s, a hugely popular nightclub that hosted foam parties in the 1990s and an events venue.

Musicians who have played there include Belinda Carlisle, Human League, David Essex, Chuck Berry, The Temptations, the Crickets and Roy Wood.

The club, which had a revolving stage, is also featured in classic Bradford-set films Billy Liar and Rita, Sue and Bob Too.

The planning application says the new venue will create six full-time and eight part-time jobs.

An adjoining car park has around 70 parking spaces, and Mr Singh said he owned a plot of land on Midland Road that had space for 200 cars and could be used as an overflow car park for busier events, with guests ferried to the venue by a shuttle bus.

The planning application says: “The aim is to invest in the building to transform the once iconic nightclub, which contains some magnificent internal features, in to a beautiful facility and rid Manningham Lane of the eyesore which stands there now, thus producing a quality refurbishment to uplift this part of Bradford, with an appropriate use for the building which can only benefit the neighbourhood.

“This building was once a large part of Bradford’s night scene and has now been derelict for more than 10 years.

“It is our client’s aim, through a significant investment, to bring this building back to its original form.

“The ‘hall’ benefits from a large perimeter balcony area, and a large stage, which are to be retained for the proposed use. The high ceilings, which still have the suspended rafts that used to home the very expensive lighting and lasers used over the dance floor, provide a superb opportunity for the introduction of some large feature lighting for the proposed uses.

“Through the retention and refurbishment of this building, Bradford will benefit from a quality venue with a multitude of uses which will only benefit the city.”

A previous owner of the site had suggested the building be demolished and replaced with apartments and ground floor shops, but these plans never came to fruition.

Bradford councillor John Pennington owned the venue for a time, buying it in 1999. He told the Telegraph & Argus: “A lot of people in Bradford will remember this place and have some very good memories of there.

“It is a huge venue, there are plenty of dressing rooms, a changing area and a huge catering kitchen.” However, he said he was “relaxed” about whether the building was refurbished or demolished, adding: “I don’t think it has any particular architectural merit.”

He reflected on some of the acts that had played at the club when he ran it, recalling the time he took Chuck Berry to the Sweet Centre on Lumb Lane, which led to all the customers there applauding when they saw the rock legend.

When The Crickets, Buddy Holly’s backing band, played the venue they were given a huge spread of food, but told Cllr Pennington that being in Yorkshire they only really wanted fish and chips, so he had to pop to the nearest chippie to fetch them.

Another time he was escorting Roy Wood, frontman of Wizard,to the venue. When they were crossing Manningham Lane at a pedestrian crossing one motorist stuck his head out of the car window and shouted “You look like Roy Wood” only for the singer to reply “I am f****** Roy Wood!”

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Councillor Alex Ross Shaw, regeneration portfolio holder for the council, said: “It’s always good to see someone prepared to invest in Bradford and bring an empty property back into use.

“No one likes to see buildings sitting empty so while any proposals obviously have to be in line with our planning policies it’s good to see people looking to add to the vibrancy of the city with new ventures.”

A decision on the application is expected to be made next month.