A DISTINCTIVE bronze-effect statue which has graced a Derby street for more than 10 years has been put up for sale on internet auction site eBay.
The two-metre tall bust, which gazes down on London Road from its over the entrance to the former Zanzibar nightclub, is now open to offers from buyers with a starting bid of £60.
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The statue, made out of fibre-glass, has been put up for sale by restaurant chain Cosmo, which is currently converting the former cinema into a 330-seat global eat-all-you-want buffet-style outlet, which is due to be open at the end of this month.
The refit, costing £1 million, will create more than 50 jobs and offer diners around 180 dishes from 14 different countries, including Japan, Vietnam, India and Brazil.
The new restaurant will serve the meals from an impressive 60-metre
buffet as well as at 10 live cooking stations.
The building itself started life as the Gaumont Palace cinema in 1934 but its days of showing films ended in 1988.
After that it continued as a bingo hall but was closed during the 1990s, until it was given new life as the Zanzibar nightclub in 2000.
The nightclub's owners used the cinema's distinctive entrance canopy to set an exotic scene complete with fake palm trees and the statue – which is believed to represent a former Sultan of Zanzibar who ruled the famous East African spice island in the 19th century.
In its heyday, Zanzibar was one of Derby's most popular entertainment venues – playing host to appearances by soap stars and pop acts including Olly Murs – but the club fell out of favour and closed in January 2012.
The Cosmo Restaurant Group bought the disused property last year and, although its design will incorporate many themes from its former lives, the Sultan statue is not needed.
Cosmo's group operations director, Kan Koo, said: "The Zanzibar statue has become a famous Derby landmark over the years. Although it is not in our plans to retain it, we think it deserves more than being scrapped so we've put it up for sale.
"The restaurant's design pays homage to its days as a cinema and also its Zanzibar era, so there will be plenty to remind diners of days gone by."
The online auction is scheduled to end on Monday.
Read more: http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/Sultan-statue-falls-grace-sold-highest-bidder/story-18718408-detail/story.html#ixzz2QdoMCb9V
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