FUTURIST CINEMA REELS IN GRADE II LISTING HONOUR

An old Birmingham cinema that spent years as a strip club and shisha bar has been granted Grade II listed status.

- KIRSTY BOSLEY News Reporter

The Futurist, on John Bright Street, has been listed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), acknowledging that it is of special interest.

The old cinema, built in 1919, was the first in Birmingham to show a 'talkie' film after years of silent shows, screening The Singing Fool back in 1929.

Historic England, which recommended the building for listing, say that The Futurist is an 'accomplished example of early cinema architecture'.

The building, designed back in 1914, has been used as a number of different things in more recent years, including shisha bar Babylon and strip club Wildcats.

Back in 1940, the old cinema was damaged during the Birmingham Blitz, surviving the Luftwaffe air raid.