The derelict 1930s cinema in Abington Square, Northampton, had been daubed with graffiti and seemed in danger of becoming an eyesore.

It was in desperate need of redevelopment, but when the Jesus Army made moves to take over the building, not everyone was happy. Some feared plans to transform it into the organisation's biggest UK centre would see a building of architectural importance consigned to the pages of history.

Northampton Borough Council had hoped the building, which opened as the Savoy in 1936, would be transformed into a massive bar and nightclub complex. When the plan fell through, it paved the way for the Jesus Army to submit its own bid for a 900-seat centre.

As cinema aficionados called for the building to be preserved in its present state and others insisted it must have a wider community use, the Jesus Army persisted and when planning permission was finally granted on appeal, the blueprint for the £3 million centre could finally become a reality.

Except for a banner advertising the group's presence, from the outside it looks like little has changed since the cinema closed almost a decade ago, after the opening of the town's first multi-screen cinema at Sixfields.

Graffiti still decorates the walls and most people probably still don't give the building a second glance, but inside plans are well on track and are due to be finished by this summer.

But what will the centre offer? As well as being a place of worship, it will provide drop-in facilities for the homeless and a training suite for people to improve their work skills.

Day-to-day running costs will be met by hiring out some of the building's many rooms to businesses for conferencing, but no-one is underestimating the job in hand, not least the Jesus Army.

"It really is a huge project, easily our biggest in the country" said Jesus Army elder John Campbell. "We were initially worried that maybe we had bitten off more than we could chew, but at the moment we're on schedule to have it completed by the middle of this year."

As with any major redevelopment of protected buildings there has been costly work, like the removal of dangerous asbestos. And the project has also run into unforeseen stumbling blocks, such as trying to remove 70 years' of paint from the walls.

Mr Campbell said: "When the cinema was first built, they used distemper paint, which is little better than whitewash, but incredibly difficult to strip off."

Alongside the decor, the group has also had to contend with vandals and the wildlife which has set up home in the building since it closed in 1995.

"People had broken in and sprayed graffiti and broken a few windows," said Mr Campbell. "And a hole in the roof had allowed a load of pigeons to get in, though they soon left of their own accord. There has been a lot of work, just to get the building in a satisfactory state to start the real work."

The projection room is earmarked as an office and the auditorium is the ideal venue for the Jesus Army's worship centre.

When construction work - structural improvements, lifts and disabled access — is complete, decorators will move in and then it will be a working building again.

The Jesus Army is confident not only that work will be completed on schedule, but that early critics of the plans will have to eat their words.

Mr Campbell said: "It will be a fantastic facility for the whole community A place of worship, a centre for refuge and an area of learning for everyone, regardless of their religious beliefs or lack of them.

Source: Northampton Chronicle & Echo