Paisley is set for a trendy new arts and cultural quarter if a £30 million blueprint goes ahead.
A five screen cinema, a 500 seat theatre, dance studios, rehearsal spaces and a performance academy to nurture future movie and musical stars are among the facilities that are included in the plans.
Paisley Community Trust is behind the ambitious scheme which would also feature an outdoor promenade with cafes and bars promising to bring a lively buzz to the town.
Andy Campbell, a co-founder of the Paisley Community Trust, said: “We want to create a fantastic new vision for Paisley.
“My fellow trustee Gary Kerr and I are both Paisley guys who grew up in the town, have seen it decline over the years and have taken the attitude ‘you can stay and moan about it’ or ‘do something to improve it’ and we’ve taken the latter approach.”
Mr Campbell said that the scheme had already secured 10 per cent of the required funding and it was hoped with a drive underway to secure more finance the arts and cultural zone would open in 2021, the same year it would be City of Culture if everything goes to plan.
Mr Campbell added: “We want to do something that will not just improve the town, as it is a place we care about, but also transform the lives of the people who live in the town,” he said.
Paisley has its fair share of stars from the world of the arts. David Tennant, the actor, the late musician Gerry Rafferty and the singer Paolo Nutini all come from the town.
The cultural quarter would also remember one of the Scotland’s worst human disasters, with a memorial gardens dedicated to the 71 children who lost their lives in a horrific incident at the Glen Cinema incident in the town on New Year's Eve in 1929.
The tragedy was caused by a smoking film canister which resulted in widespread panic. The resulting crush killed 69 children and injured 40, while two more children died of their injuries later.
Campbell said the arts project had met with considerable support and had been endorsed by Jim Rafferty – Gerry’s older brother and had also impressed Nick Kuenssberg OBE, chairman of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and father of the BBC’s political editor Laura Kuenssberg.
A public display of the plans were announced in Paisley yesterday.
Glasgow architect Stallan Brand have been appointed by the trust to provide initial designs and images of what the arts quarter may look like and wasteland site has been earmarked as a site.
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