THE curtain will finally fall on more than 80 years of Cinema history in Whitefield if a multi-million pound scheme to transform the site of the Mayfair into luxury apartments gets the go-ahead.

Prestwich-born property developer Mr Chris Rustage, who owns the site, wants to demolish the former picture house and build up to 44 plush flats in a bid to bring affluence to the area.

Although the building has not been used as a cinema since it closed seven years ago, Mr Rustage's plan, if successful, would mean bulldozers moving onto the site for the first time and the familiar Mayfair structure reduced to rubble.

The self-made millionaire, who owns Riverside Developments in Manchester, took over the premises in 1999 "for nostalgic reasons" and transformed the building from a children's play facility, Alphabet Zoo, into a discount furniture store. But he claims Mayfair Furniture Warehouse, while still a lucrative business, has outgrown its current location and as a result has submitted an outline application to Bury Town Hall to start again with a residential development.

Mr Rustage said: "Commercially the building is a non-starter. It is no longer viable as a business. There is such a lot of wasted space and it is due for some repairs.

"It has lofty ceilings and two-thirds of the premises is loft space. The business would be more suited to a single-storey building." Mr Rustage emphasised that the furniture store would be re-located, adding that it would be within a two or three mile radius of its location in Bury Old Road and that jobs would not be in jeopardy as a result of his plans. He said: "The business is fine, but it has outgrown its premises. This is just an inevitable change."

The Mayfair first opened in 1936 but was gutted by fire in 1941. Cinema-goers continued watching films at the Mayfair Junior until the new Mayfair was officially opened in 1956.

A second fire in 1978 failed to deter film-lovers and it continued to provide an escape for many visitors until the pressures of home video and the emergence of multiplex cinemas forced its closure in 1994. Mr Rustage said: "It will be wonderful to build something that will last 150 years and there is a degree of pride in shaping a vandalised area. At the moment the building is not a pretty place. A development of super-flats will increase the value of the surrounding area."