AN artist's impression of how one of Blackburn town centre's iconic buildings may look after its £6million regeneration project has been revealed.

A computer generated walkthrough of the The Exchange has been released by its trustees, who plan on bringing the site back into use as a leading arts, culture and events venue.

The artist's impression shows how the building may look and includes a reception area, a large venue space on the bottom floor with an office area.

The walkthrough also shows a spacious mezzanine floor suitable for a bar or restaurant, as well as the potential for a business on the basement floor.

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Caer Butler, the building's new manager, said the vision for the building is to have a large public space which can be used for weddings, art events and more.

She said: "It might look like nothing has happened but there is a lot of hard work going on in the background to make sure this building is brought back.

"This walkthrough is a potential plan of how the building could look.

"We still have a lot of work to do but we hope this shows the public where we are.

"One of our big aims is to get the massive open space at the top of the building back open and available for the public."

Built at the height of the cotton trade, The Exchange stood out in Blackburn’s skyline as one of the town’s biggest structures and represented prosperity during this busy industrial era.

However it lay barren and empty for 12 years after The Apollo cinema left the building in 2005.

All seemed lost until the King William Street site was bought by Re:Source Blackburn in 2015 , which works with church groups and Christian networks, to turn the building’s fortunes around.

Since then a group of passionate trustees have worked hard to bring the building back into use and turn it into an attractive venue.

Mrs Butler said the building is already holding eight art-inspired events in 2019.

She said: "It's exciting to see these potential plans as we are a step closer to bringing the building back to life.

"I, along with the trustees and all the hard-working volunteers, cannot wait to get this place back to its former glory."

With the decline of the cotton trade at the beginning of the 20th century, The Exchange lost its purpose.

By 1908 it had become a cinema, as The Exchange Picture Hall.

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It later became The Majestic Cinema in 1924 and then The New Majestic in 1932.

The name changed yet again in 1954 to the Essoldo, and became The Classic in 1967.

In 1981, Unit 4 Cinemas had control of it, and then finally in 1992, it became The Apollo.