Proposals for the future of this "local landmark" and "iconic building" were making our headlines five years ago this week.

Plans to demolish a derelict art-deco cinema in Walthamstow have been branded ‘disappointing’ by an architectural conservation group.

The Twentieth Century Society, which campaigns to protect examples of post-1914 architecture, has expressed concerns over plans to demolish the Dominion Cinema building in Buxton Road.

A planning application by developers Southern Home Ownership for a five-storey apartment block on the site is expected to be granted by Waltham Forest council next week.

A Twentieth Century Society spokesman said: “The Dominion Cinema was a local landmark in the area.

“The building had suffered from neglect since its closure in 1996, but with sympathetic restoration could have been returned to active use.

“We are really disappointed that no effort was made to retain the historic art-deco façade of this building, which stands within a conservation area.”

The application to build flats on the cinema site has proved controversial among Walthamstow residents and 78 complaints were lodged with the council during a consultation period last year.

One letter of complaint sent to the local authority read: “The art-deco design is to be replaced with a bland, generic building that poorly represents the aspirations of the time in which it was built.

"The iconic building would be lost.”

However, council officers concluded the new development would be an “improvement” on the current building and the character and appearance of the area: “would be preserved”.

The Dominion building was last used in 1996 as a Mecca Bingo Club.

Since the club closed, the property has fallen into disrepair, with windows boarded up and graffiti daubed on its walls.

A cinema first opened on the Buxton Street site in 1909. However, in 1931, the original building was demolished and replaced by the Dominion.

It remained as a cinema until 1961, before its conversion into a bingo hall.

In recent years, campaigners had made calls to bring the cinema back into use as a theatre or community art space.