WORLD-renowned film director Mike ­Figgis – and his cousin, the casting director Susie Figgis – are drawing up plans to set up a new arts and cultural centre in Kentish Town. 

The New Journal can reveal that the pair have come forward as the faces behind a group which hopes to turn the former North London Polytechnic building in Prince of Wales Road into an independent cinema and performance space for theatre, music and lectures. It was until recently a Pizza Express. 

Mr Figgis, who directed Hollywood star Nicholas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas, said that he could see the building becoming as successful as the famous Tricycle arts centre in ­Kilburn. 

“It could be used for film, music, arts, educational courses and have a remit of providing a space for new performances and people who are already established,” he told the New ­Journal. “We would like to see a new, community-orientated body to run the space, providing an eclectic, diverse platform for film, music, spoken word, live performances, food and entertainment, with a charitable trust overseeing it.” 

Mr Figgis, who is also a screenwriter and composer, and once played in a band with Bryan Ferry, said: “We envisage it could be similar to places such as the Notting Hill Arts Club or the Kilburn Tricycle and believe the site is the perfect spot for a longstanding, successful new centre celebrating contemporary performing arts.” 

He has joined forces with Dartmouth Park-based Ms Figgis for the project and the pair hope to enter negotiations with Redview, the building’s owners, if planning permission is granted next week. 

The former North London Polytechnic building closed as a Pizza Express three years ago. Developers Redview had sought planning permission to knock the building down and build flats on the site. That plan collapsed after an appeal. 

As it is now: a peak behind the front door at the former Pizza Express in Kentish Town

Redview will now learn next Thursday if one of two new schemes will be given the go-ahead by the Town Hall’s planning committee. 

The first scheme – recommended for approval by council officials – would see a single-storey extension put on the building’s roof, and the ground-floor space let to the highest bidder. 

But it is the second scheme, revealed in the New Journal earlier this year, which has got people talking in Kentish Town. It would include a ground-floor cinema if the developers were given permission to raise more money by adding a further floor on top. 

Planning officials, conversely, have recommended councillors reject it because the extra storey will block out light. 

Mr Figgis and Ms Figgis are currently forming a steering committee to promote their idea and will be meeting the owners to discuss it further – if councillors decide the second option can go ahead. The New Journal has learned that some of those who could be involved include a world-famous model and actress, and a leading figure in British TV, who have requested at this stage that we do not reveal their names until after the planning application is considered. 

Ms Figgis, who has worked with the likes of Ken Loach, Sir Richard Attenborough and Tim Burton, and cast films such as Cry Freedom, Gandhi and The Killing Fields, told the New Journal the area was the perfect place for such a venture. 

She said: “This is a beautiful building that deserves to be used in its current state. It would be such a shame if it was all lost for housing, or used for a chain-store supermarket. We have long believed Kentish Town would be a great place for a new arts centre, and we believe the former Poly could offer such a space, if the scheme that makes this financially viable is given planning permission.” 

Cinema company Shortwave, which runs a picturehouse in Bermondsey, and the Everyman chain have also expressed an interest – and the Figgis group say they would be happy to speak with either. 

The New Journal revealed in January how the building may look if it is converted

A Redview spokesman told the New Journal they would be interested in negotiating with the Figgises and added that the council had been sent hundreds of letters in support of the cinema scheme. 

The spokesman added: “At our public exhibition last July, when people were asked what their preferred use for the building at street level would be, the cinema was by far the most popular response. The planning application for a single-screen cinema, we feel, will complement and enhance the independent feel of Kentish Town with its current wide array of lively cafés and restaurants.”