Read the BBC report here

To read accounts of the day on Twitter, visit Hidden Bradford

To find out more about the bid, visit Bradford One

This website’s mission is now over, and the team who brought you this campaign are shifting focus to finding a viable, city-wide solution for the building we have all collectively fought for.

See you over at Bradford One!

Griff is the president of Civic Voice, who have been following this campaign for some time, we were honoured to hear.

During his visit, Griff will be doing a prepared talk for invited guests and press.

He will also help us to launch our community bid for ownership of the Odeon – a bid which will be known as Bradford One.

More information about Bradford One will be announced next week at the event, with photos and video being made available from the event.

The event will also be livetweeted on the Hidden Bradford website from 10am on Tuesday.

‘SUTTON Colin On October 1, 2012, Colin passed away, peacefully at home, aged 75 years. Funeral service and cremation to be held Monday, November 5, 2012, at Nab Wood Crematorium, at 11.30a.m. Will friends please meet at the crematorium. Donations if desired can be made in Colin’s memory to the British Heart Foundation, for which a plate will be provided at the service. All enquiries to the Co-operative Funeralcare, Five Lane Ends, Bradford. Tel. 01274 634637.’

Read it here

The main outcomes regarding the Odeon’s future were as follows:

The Homes and Communities Agency further confirmed their openness to a community bid on Twitter

RT @jimdogbratfud: Big news today is that there’s a green light from both @hca_uk and @bradfordmdc to present viable community ownership…

— HCA (@HCA_UK) October 26, 2012

You can read a livetweeted report from the Odeon meeting (funnier than this article, we assure you) at Hidden Bradford

The next steps for this campaign will be to pursue the community right to bid, and the funding that is available for these projects. We want to see a viable and much-loved refurbished Odeon contributing to the regeneration of our city centre.

We believe that all of the people who campaigned for the building should be able to be directly involved in its future, and to own a part of what they have fought to save.

We will bring you up to date news on opportunities to get involved soon.

His fellow BORG members have paid tribute to Colin, saying:

Colin was very much a ‘back-room boy’, happy to do the work, but not take the limelight. He brought his considerable skills and tenacity in research to BORG and was often able to give us invaluable information and advice on how to proceed further.
He was an accomplished photographer and frequently brought to our attention specific images of the Odeon that we would otherwise have over-looked.
Colin will be missed by us all.

More information regarding Colin’s funeral will be made available as soon as we know.

Colin Sutton’s dedicated research into the history of the Odeon can be found online here

Meanwhile, watch this space. We will keep you updated as much as we can.

But what next for the Bradford Icon?

The proposed development was to build apartments, offices and a hotel. Langtree say the economic climate is stopping them from delivering those. Look at the hole at the other side of town. A proposed shopping centre that can’t be built until it’s 80% pre-let. We don’t know what the current percentage is, but it appears to be a lot lower than that, hence no building work.

This means shops, offices, hotels and apartments are out. So what’s left?

A recent report has suggested that footfall thoughout the centre (and the Arndale Centre) increases whenever there is an event held at City Park.

Yes it seems at the moment the only thing that can bring people into town to spend their money are events. Next door to the Odeon is the Alhambra. Earmarked to be bulldozed in the 1980s to build a car park, only to be restored, it is now the “jewel in the crown” of Bradford. (Just Google ‘bradford alhambra jewel in the crown’ to see how many times that has been said!).

The John Peel North idea is a great one. The Odeon is a purpose built theatre. Ok, so some of the features were lost when it was turned into the ‘Odeon Twins’ and also when the HCA were doing their structural work. How much, we don’t know. But what we do know, restoring the Odeon as a live act venue and conference centre makes total sense. The building itself compliments the theatre next door, and it will be another piece in the ‘cultural quarter’ jigsaw.

There you have it, Bradford Council. This is what the people of Bradford want. The Odeon restored into a public building to be used for live acts. I will waive my £1m consultancy fee if you make this happen.

The Odeon will not be demolished and the HCA seem to recognise that the building is much loved in Bradford and will be seeking a new developer. They say “we’ll work with at the Council and local community to find a solution that meets their ambitions for the city centre.”

So there’s still work to be done to secure a developer who will keep the building, but we are a step closer to that.

Thank you all for your continued support in this campaign. This battle has been won, but the war is not yet over.

Under the Act, the Odeon could become owned by the people of Bradford / Yorkshire / The North and turned back into a venue.

Read the article here.