Channel 4 eyes former Leeds nightclub as new national headquarters

Channel 4 is in talks to open a national headquarters inside a former nightclub and historic cinema in Leeds city centre.

The broadcaster said it was in “advanced negotiations” with the Rushbond Group, which owns the Majestic building that looks onto the central City Square.

In October, the channel announced it had chosen Leeds as the location for its new national headquarters, while Bristol and Glasgow would be the site of new creative hubs.

Opening in 1922, the complex featured a 2,400-capacity cinema, restaurant and basement ballroom.

Since then it has been run as a bingo hall and in 1997 reopened as the Majestyk Nightclub.

In 2014, a fire tore through the building, destroying the roof and most of the interior, and in 2018 work began to convert it to offices.

The broadcaster plans to lease over 25,000 square feet of space on the third, fourth and fifth floors of the building.

It said it hoped to move into the building in the second half of 2020. In the interim, it plans to lease a smaller space in the nearby Bruntwood’s Platform building.

The move is part of the biggest change to the structure of the channel in its 35-year history, even though it will keep its base on Horseferry Road in London.

Channel 4’s chief commercial officer Jonathan Allan said: “Leeds offered a wealth of potential locations for our National HQ but the Majestic really stood out as an iconic building which will put Channel 4 at the heart of the city centre.

“It’s an incredibly impressive redevelopment and offers the right mix of location, connectivity and space for our organisation and great facilities for our staff and our partners in the industry.”

The channel is also in talks with developer Cubex to build a new Creative Hub at Finzels Reach, a new development on Bristol’s waterfront.