New
development to give former Tees cinema major facelift
44 | Tees Business
Joe Darragh has revealed exciting new plans to convert part of The Picture House in Billingham into a high-end restaurant.
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New
By Martin Walker
development to give former Tees cinema major facelift
An historic former picture house dubbed“ the heart of Billingham” is set for a major facelift – and could soon be home to a swanky new restaurant.
Tees property specialist Mandale Group is investing £ 200,000 to completely re-shape one half of The Picture House, a much-loved building which sits on the corner of South View and Mill Lane in the town.
The developers have identified the site as a prime location for a new high-end restaurant to follow in the footsteps of several other retailers and a micropub, which have successfully established themselves within the 90-year-old structure.
Mandale Group originally purchased the property 40 years ago and converted the main part of the building into a snooker hall and bar.
But following the decline of snooker as a popular pub sport in recent years, the first floor has made way for a purpose-built fitness studio.
Meanwhile the ground floor – formerly the main entrance to The Picture House – is now home to micropub the Hog’ s Head, which has already proved a smash hit with locals, as well as six other small businesses, creating a thriving hub of independent retailers.
Another side of the building has until recently been used as a car dealership, which has relocated to Stockton.
And Mandale Group’ s head of property development Joe Darragh told Tees Business:“ Now is the time for us to invest in this grand old building again, to give it a new lease of life and bring something new to Billingham.
“ We’ ve already had a lot of interest in the building for other purposes, but we felt it needed to be regenerated again and given a completely new direction, while also enabling the existing micropub there to expand, as it desperately needs more space due to its success.”
Part of Mandale’ s refurbishment of The Picture House will create a new 2,500 square foot facility with outside paving and seating areas.
“ We think there’ s a real market for a high-end restaurant here,” adds Darragh.“ If you speak to a lot of people in Billingham, they have to go to Norton, Stockton or Middlesbrough for a nice meal.
“ So this would fill a gap and would be an ideal location for an Indian, a Thai restaurant, a Chinese or a Tapas bar.”
Nicola Parsons opened the Hog’ s Head micropub at the front of The Picture House 18 months ago, and now needs more space to expand.
“ Weekends are really busy and it gets a bit tight, so we want to create a pool room and get a pool team going,” said the 38-year-old.