A government minister is to meet Walthamstow MP, Stella Creasy, to talk about ways to protect the local dog track and the EMD cinema.
Heritage minister, John Penrose, agreed to an invitation made in the House of Commons by Creasy after she told MPs about the poor state of the cinema and her concerns for the derelict Stow stadium.
Creasy described to the Commons her efforts to stop a recent attempted rave at the Hoe Street cinema when she discovered that serious water damage was happening inside the building and added: “Every day that I pass the Walthamstow dog track and I see the derelict state that it has now become I fear for its future.”
Later the MP said: “As proposals exist to restore both the cinema and the dog track and so save these buildings for the local community, I’m determined to do all I can to support them. I want ministers to help us make sure that these cultural assets are not left to decay and that urgent action is taken to repair and protect them.”
The EMD/Granada Cinema, a Grade II* listed building and one of the country’s best examples of a 1930s super cinema, was bought by its current owners, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, in 2002, so they could turn it into a church. In 2003 the government ruled that the building should be retained as a cinema but the church has resisted calls to sell it and applied again for planning permission in 2009, a matter that has still to be decided by the council.
The kennels, the entrance and totaliser board at the Walthamstow Dog Track were all grade II listed in 2007, the listing describing the stadium as the “best surviving and most architecturally interesting vintage greyhound stadium in the country” and “a nationally loved building type expressive of developments in inter-War mass culture and entertainment”.
