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MP bids for cash for new music venue in Kettering bingo hall

Tom Percival/BBC Kettering's old bingo hallTom Percival/BBC
Kettering's redundant bingo hall used to be a theatre and music venue up until the 1970s

An MP has pleaded for money for a project to regenerate an old theatre where the Rolling Stones once played.

Philip Hollobone used a Westminster Hall debate to raise the profile of the proposal to transform the building which was most recently used as a bingo hall.

He asked a Levelling Up minister for £2m from the Community Ownership Fund.

The minister did not offer any instant cash but wished the project leaders luck in the next round of funding.

Tom Percival/BBC Kettering's old bingo hallTom Percival/BBC
The old Granada theatre's faded and faint signage remains visible above a doorway

The building originally opened as the Regal Cinema on Boxing Day in 1936, before being taken over by Granada Theatres in 1947.

It hosted several concerts by artists such as The Rolling Stones and then, in 1974, it became a Gala bingo hall.

It has been disused since 2018, but BHVA Axis Hub - a community interest company led by two singing coaches, Beccy Hurrell and Lindsey Atkins - wants to turn it into a community building with health services, a café and performing arts spaces.

The proposal has had some celebrity supportt from TikTok singing sensation Mae Stephens.

Tom Percival/BBC Woman with light-coloured hairTom Percival/BBC
Beccy Hurrell's work to get the venue up and running was raised in Parliament

During his Westminster Hall debate, Mr Hollobone told MPs that Ms Hurrell and Ms Atkins had put in a bid for £2m from the Government's Community Ownership Fund to "revive for community use the former bingo hall building located right at the heart of Kettering town centre."

He added: "I have never seen a more high-quality bid for anything."

PARLIAMENT Man with short brown hair and glasses standing in front of wood panelling in Westminster HallPARLIAMENT
Philip Hollobone MP pleaded for support for the project during his Westminster Hall debate

Mr Hollobone took MPs through some of the acts that had appeared at the venue, including comedians Flanagan and Allen, singer Vera Lynn and rockers The Who.

He said that the community project would be "transformative for Kettering town centre and fulfil the Government's levelling-up objectives were the £2m to be allocated."

PARLIAMENT Man with beard and glasses shaking a fist and smilingPARLIAMENT
Levelling-up minister Jacob Young told Philip Hollobone "you can't always get what you want"

Responding on behalf of the Government, the levelling-up minister Jacob Young gave a couple of nods to the Rolling Stones link.

He said: "In the words of The Rolling Stones, I would say to the honourable gentleman that 'you can't always get what you want, but, if you try sometimes you just might get what you need'.

"And I hope that response gives my honourable friend some satisfaction."

He wished the project "the very best of luck" in the next round of funding.

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