A PROPERTY firm is in negotiations to sell Ipswich's former Odeon cinema, it said today.The building, which has remained shut since its closure in 2005, is being sold by real estate firm Savills.

A PROPERTY firm is in negotiations to sell Ipswich's former Odeon cinema, it said today.

The building, which has remained shut since its closure in 2005, is being sold by real estate firm Savills.

Six businesses made an offer for the former five screen cinema but Savills said today the building is under offer to a purchaser.

A deal could be sealed within a fortnight.

Neil Perrin, from the Cambridge office of Savills, which is handling the sale, said: “We have had a number of offers and it's under offer.

“We are in the progression of discussions and it's very active at the moment.”

Several options for the former cinema, which was opened in 1991, have been explored since it closed.

Ambitious proposals to turn the building into a major new leisure complex came to nothing after a developer decided to put it up for sale in October.

London-based Close Ventures, which provides funds for leisure ventures, invested £4.1 million in Premier Leisure (Suffolk), which owns the Odeon site and building, in March last year.

But Close Ventures decided to sell the building and look elsewhere in Britain.

The huge grey building, in St Margaret's Street, is considered by many to be a blot on the landscape and

Mr Perrin said: “It's not everyone's cup of tea.”

But the level of interest in it reflects the fact that it is one of the largest sites available in the town centre and it is a relatively new building.

It was built for Rank, the cinema and entertainments group by Ipswich Council as part of the deal which saw the council take over the Regent Theatre.

It has five screens, a bar and a shop. It also has planning permission for a change of use from cinema to a nightclub and leisure mix.