Brighton, UK's, Hippodrome looks set to enjoy a new lease of life after Brighton & Hove City Council approved plans to transform the 117-year-old structure into a cinema and restaurant complex.

Alaska Development Consultants is behind the £18m plans and – having been advised by Indigo Planning – will bring the Grade-II listed, ‘at risk’ building back into use, based on designs from Russ Drage Architects. The proposals include an eight-screen Vue cinema housed beneath the floor of the Hippodrome dome and to the rear of the building, a new (removable) floor inserted at low level within the dome to create space for a signature restaurant, a second restaurant in the restored and refurbished Hippodrome House, as well as a new public square just off Middle Street.

In agreement with English Heritage, all important historic fabric will be retained. The entire enclosure to the Hippodrome auditorium as well as its Middle Street elevation and the Hippodrome House façade will be preserved and restored to their former glory. A spokesperson for the project told Leisure Opportunities that the £18m figure represents the build costs, with the anticipated end value of the project being £35m.

Having first opened as an ice rink in 1897, the Frank Matcham-designed building soon switched to a circus before closing in 1902. It reopened a year later as a theatre, becoming a bingo hall in 1967, as it remained until closing in 2007. Over the years the Hippodrome has hosted entertainers from Harry Houdini, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, to The Beatles and Rolling Stones.

“Following an exhaustive and comprehensive period of design development and planning consultations, we are delighted to be finally in a position to complete what we started over two years ago,” said Chris Moore, development manager for Alaska Development Consultants.

“Our aim has always been to preserve, restore and enhance this magnificent old building and now, with Brighton & Hove Council’s consent, we can put our plans into action and bring this famous building back to life.”