AN OLD cinema is being transformed into a theatre and arts space in a project costing hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The building in Church Street, which houses Franky's Bar, was bought nine months ago by a three-man business partnership which plans to rejuvenate the premises, while still retaining original Victorian features.

Joe Cooney, 49, of Durham Road, Darwen, is one of the three, which includes Ian Harner, of Whalley and Paul Walsh, of Accrington, who bought the building, which was has been a cinema, a Conservative club, a dance hall and Ritz Bingo in its lifetime.

The property investor said he had often seen the building, while growing up in Darwen, and when it came on the market he leapt at the chance to snap it up.

He said: "The club was getting run down and I thought it was a good town centre site, so when it came up for sale we bought it.

"Our plan was to do it up so people could have functions, and I have got bands on as well.

"We have the bar downstairs and the cinema upstairs.

"We haven't cleaned it up yet so I'm not sure what we've got, but there are still the old velvet cinema seats there.

"We want to do it up so we can host plays and it will be somewhere we could have talks, so university students can use it."

Half of the funding for the project, on the first floor of the building, will come from the partnership and it is hoped the other half will come from a slice of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant.

The town was awarded a £2million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund as part of the Townscape Heritage Initiative, which supports towns that need an economic boost to finance a five-year plan to restore Darwen's Victorian heritage.

Money will be pumped into mending historic buildings and tidying up other buildings and areas within the town centre.

Coun Alan Cottam, executive member for regeneration for Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, said: "The regeneration grants provide owners with a one-off opportunity to bring this type of building back into use, for the benefit of the local economy.

"In this case, the grant application has also renewed interest in this building's intriguing past."

The building was the brainchild of designer James Huntingdon, who arrived in Darwen in 1864, and it was constructed in 1879 by the Darwen Conservative Association.

Mr Cooney said the finished scheme would be called The Ritz and would be finished and ready to open by Christmas.