New names at the Kursaal?

From the archive, first published Tuesday 10th Apr 2007.

NEW life could soon be coming to the famous Kursaal amusement centre on Southend seafront.

The Kursaal was sold last year in a £15million deal by Allan Stack of the Rowallan group, which brought the centre back to life in 1998 after years of neglect.

Since then, apart from the bowling alley and the Ren-dezvous casino, the Kursaal has been empty, with much of it closed to the public.

New owner, the Trehaven group, has now been marketing units in the building hoping to attract upmarket cafes, bars and restaurants, rather than the traditional seafront amusements.

A spokeswoman for Trehaven said: "We are now seeing interest in parts of the building and are hoping to make an announcement soon.

"At the moment, the small first-floor function room in the original Dome is under offer and hopefully there will be an announcement soon on the new tenants.

"There is also interest in a major part of the first floor from two or three operators, but we cannot give any more details at the moment."

She said the businesses would be food and drink related.

For many years, until the 1970s, the Kursaal was one of Southend's biggest attractions, taking in 27 acres, much of which is now the Woodgrange Estate.

After sitting derelict for years, it was eventually sold to Rowallan and reopened in 1998.