Community bid launched to help secure the future of The Ritz, Ilkeston

Credit: The Ritz Collective

Derbyshire Historic Buildings Trust and The New Ritz Collective have announced that a nomination has officially been submitted for The Ritz, Ilkeston to be listed as an Asset of Community Value (ACV).

The application comes ahead of the building’s scheduled auction on 20th May and marks an important first step in wider efforts to help secure a long-term future for the historic building at the heart of the community.

If granted, Asset of Community Value status would formally recognise the building’s importance to the local community and ensure its community value is taken into account in any future sale.

The New Ritz Collective is a newly formed community group made up of local residents who share a vision of seeing The Ritz restored and returned to meaningful community use.

The long-term ambition for the building is to create a flexible, multi-purpose community space capable of supporting a wide range of activity, including live performances, theatre, music, comedy, film screenings, exhibitions, workshops, markets, educational activity, community events and private hire.

Derbyshire Historic Buildings Trust Trustee, Peter Milner, said: “The Ritz is an important part of Ilkeston’s heritage and identity, and it’s incredibly encouraging to see local people coming together with such passion and ambition for its future.

“Derbyshire Historic Buildings Trust is fully supportive of this initiative and the ambition behind it. The Ritz is an important historic building within Ilkeston, and projects like this have the potential not only to remove buildings from the ‘at risk’ register, but to secure sustainable and positive futures for them at the heart of their communities once again.

“Ilkeston is my hometown, so it is a great pleasure to be involved with a project to save and restore this iconic building, which I visited many times in my younger days. I understand the concerns of local people as they have watched the building slowly deteriorate over the years. It needs bringing back to life and enjoyed once more.”

Imogen Connelly, Chair of The New Ritz Collective, said the response from local people had already shown how much pride and potential people still see in the building and its future within the town: “The response from the community already has been incredible. It’s clear that The Ritz means a huge amount to people in Ilkeston, and that there is a real desire to see something positive happen within our town.

“We believe The Ritz has the potential to become part of a really exciting new chapter for Ilkeston, something that brings life back into the town centre and gives people something to get behind.

“We know there is still a long way to go, but submitting the nomination feels like the first real step towards bringing the building back into community use and creating something people can genuinely feel proud of.”

The next stages of the project will involve community engagement, fundraising, exploring funding opportunities and developing a sustainable long-term vision for the building.

The New Ritz Collective is now encouraging local people to get behind the project, follow the campaign and help demonstrate the strength of community support for bringing The Ritz back into meaningful use at the heart of Ilkeston once again.

Further updates from The New Ritz Collective will be shared over the coming weeks via the group’s Facebook page. To stay updated, visit and follow ‘The New Ritz Collective’ on Facebook.