CAMPAIGNERS looking to save a long-established venue in Banbury have applied for it to be listed as an asset of community value.

Fledgling group Friends of the Grand Theatre is fighting to halt a planning application to turn the building in Broad Street into two retail units and 12 flats.

Supporters have nominated the building, last open in its latest incarnation as Wonder Lounge, for listing under the Assets of Community Value (England) Regulations 2012.

Since the campaign was launched last year some 3,000 local people and a plethora of organisations including Cherwell Theatre Company, Odyssey Theatrical Productions and Banbury Presents have lent their support to its intention of re-opening the site 'as a social and performance venue for the benefit of the whole community'.

Founding member Rob Kinchin-Smith said: "The way it went viral locally was quite extraordinary. It's clear there is a great need for more than what we have currently.

"We need a space like this for grassroots performance.

"Banbury has a lot of home-grown talent, it punches well above its weight in terms of the number of stage and dance and performance groups, and they lack a home."

The Grand was first opened in 1911 as a 500-seat theatre, nearly doubling in size in 1935 as an Egyptian-themed cinema.

For 30 years it served as a bingo hall, then a nightclub and finally cocktail bar Wonder Lounge, which closed its doors in 2014.

In two weeks' time Cherwell District Council will consider an application to demolish part of the site to make way for a new development.

In the meantime it has received the asset of community value nomination and confirmed there is enough documentation for it to be considered.

In her response to the group, community development partner Sue Marchand said: "The decision to nominate a property is evidence-based so it is not an indication of the council's support or backing. The council should reach a nomination by April 24."

Making the site an asset of community value means locals have a stake in its future and have the chance to bid on it if it goes out for sale on the open market.

Friends of the Grand Theatre believe the value of the land is £700,000 or less and say it would not take long to bring its facilities up to standard and back into use.

But Mr Kinchin-Smith said the attempt to get it designated was a 'line in the sand' and if the Grand can not be saved the fight will continue.

He said: "If permission is granted, that's not necessarily the end. We are prepared for the fact that we may end up campaigning for some other space if this building falls."