An abandoned cinema has been purchased by Harlow Council as part of a wider regeneration of the Essex town’s centre.
Odeon opened the three-screen cinema in 1960, but it closed in August 2005 and has remained empty since.
The local authority said it had not yet decided how the site would be used, but vowed to breathe new life into the area.
Conservative leader Dan Swords said: “For years, the old Odeon has stood derelict – empty, decaying, and a symbol of the town centre’s decline. That ends now.”
