Residents evacuated after cinema fire return home

The fire broke at the disused cinema on 5 October

TeesPix.Photos Massive orange blaze above a building and fire brigade spraying water at it. A red car and a white car are on the road next to it. — The fire broke at the disused cinema on 5 October

Residents forced to leave their homes after a fire in a disused cinema have been allowed to return.

The large blaze broke out at the former Odeon cinema on Dent Road in Hartlepool on 5 October.

Hartlepool Borough Council and Karbon Homes said 24 people had now returned to their homes and the Grade II listed building was being demolished.

A 15-year-old boy arrested in connection with the fire has been released on bail.

The council said the building was structurally unstable and "beyond repair".

It also said demolition work would continue into next week and that road closures on Raby Road, Young Street and Dent Street would remain in place while the work was carried out.

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