LETTER: Shame on the owners of Burnley’s Empire Theatre

Before reading the article on the front of the Burnley Express on Tuesday, May 28th, about the awful state of the Empire Theatre and Cinema, I had written two articles about this dump, one on November 12th, 2010, and another on November 16th, 2011. I got no response from the council about what was going to be done about it.

Now it has suddenly come into the news that it is in a dangerous state. It was like this in 2010. How can there be a court summons issued to an “unknown owner”? As I said before in my letters, “out of sight, out of mind”.

There must be someone who owns the building but if the council can’t find them then why don’t they put a compulsory order on it and, after a time, pull the place down and make it safe for the public before someone gets seriously injured. If this happens you will not find anyone to take the responsibility.

Let’s pull out all the stops in finding these irresponsible owners and get them to court as soon as possible and shame them.

B. Whittaker