The man behind the revival of a much-loved former theatre and cinema in Llanelli has explained why it still hasn't reopened. William Ratti, a former international records boss, together with Tina Tracey, purchased the old Theatr Elli and former Odeon from Carmarthenshire Council for £130,000 in November 2014 following lengthy negotiations.
He said at the time that he hoped to develop the town centre building into a luxury cinema, restaurant, music venue and function room in a £2 million makeover. Ever since it was purchased, those behind the project have been hard at work to restore the iconic building back to its former glory. But eight years on, the town is still waiting for its doors to reopen.
Mr Ratti has this week put together a video explaining the reasons behind the delay, admitting he regularly gets asked about the progress of the project by people he bumps into around the town. Get stories like this straight to your inbox with our newsletters.
READ MORE: Inside the restored old Llanelli Odeon that can't open but is trying to survive
He said: "On the way in today an old chap stopped and said: 'When is it going to open, it has been like this for ages'. We get this from time to time as a lot of people are inquisitive over what's going on and why things aren't moving ahead quicker."
Mr Ratti explained that the biggest challenge they are facing is what he called the "conservation deficit". He said: "With heritage buildings, especially listed buildings, the costs to restore these buildings and the scale of something like this project - the costs are massively more costly than what the building would be worth. From an investment perspective it's a terrible investment. It'll never be worth the money required to bring it up to scratch.
"This particular project, we knew at the start that there was at least a £2 million conservation deficit. We planned on bridging that shortfall with assistance from the Welsh Government and getting grant aid on board so we could make these jobs happen and economic input into the town centre, bringing footfall back and having a really exciting attraction here.
"With the pandemic, that has all been scuppered for now, but things are much more positive now than they were two years ago, so we're taking steps to reopen the building and the future is much brighter. This building requires grant assistance to bring the whole building back into reuse, that's the reality of projects like this and many many others across the country as well."
The building was an iconic feature of the town's entertainment scene since it started life as a cinema in 1938. The impressive art deco structure on Station Road was one of five cinemas in the town at the time as crowds flocked to the silver screen to see the likes of James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Lana Turner and Laurence Olivier.
It would become Wales’s first multiplex when it was sold to Classic Cinemas in 1967 and became a three screen site. But as audiences dwindled, the building passed to Llanelli Borough Council who ran it as a cinema, Theatr Elli and as an entertainment centre. It was listed in 2010 as one of just 14 of the original Odeon cinemas left in existence in Britain, but following years of under-investment, damaging winter conditions and the fact that restoration would require original 30s tiles, the building was covered in scaffolding and closed by the end of 2012.
Mr Ratti added: "Sustainability is they key for us, and that means my personal investment which is very, very significant, has had to be incremental, and has had to be very disciplined whilst we sort assistance to help us bridge that conservation deficit from Welsh Government, Cadw, etc. But as of to date, we've had no grants to help with the renovation at all. Every penny which has been spent here since I bought the building has come from us.
"That's obviously not a situation which is tenable forever, because the money is just going one way, and it needs to come back at some point. We're working towards opening a section. Unfortunately, Storm Eunice gave us a problem - damaging part of the roof directly above the area we prepared to open. We have things going on to sort that out. We need to get a part open, make that viable and sustainable and incrementally work from there."
