IT has to be said that Jersey is very good at knocking down cinemas. West’s, which used to overlook the St Helier square now dominated by superb bronzes of Jersey cattle, is but a faint memory. The same can be said of the Forum, a truly iconic building sacrificed to make way for imposing but far less appealing red-brick office accommodation.

Now the Odeon is under threat, though its dilapidated bulk, still displaying vestiges of its proud art deco design, has its staunch defenders who insist that it is a site of special merit well worth saving. Those campaigning to save the old cinema – now disused – say that to demolish it would be a ‘big step forward in St Helier’s long march to mediocrity’.

This view is certainly defensible. Even its present grubby state, the Odeon is a more distinguished structure than anything in its immediate surroundings. That, however, amounts to a limited accolade, given that the old gas works area – the potential site of the long-awaited Millennium Park – is as fine an example of despoliation and dereliction as anyone could wish to find.

There are, though, serious problems to be overcome if the Odeon is to be saved. It should, for example, take second place to the more general issue of improving the whole area in which it stands. Secondly, no one can seriously expect its owners – or anyone else – to pay for its renovation without seeing it put to profitable future use.

It is by no means impossible to envisage the revamped shell of the Odeon accommodating commercial enterprises, but those eager to save the building at all costs would help their case if they could suggest what these might be.

Unfortunately, in the absence of coherent plans for an Odeon building able to earn its living or which could be usefully employed for public sector purposes, it might be best to bite the bullet, demolish and rebuild – although a caveat of supreme importance must be added. Whatever replaced the present building would have to be of unimpeachable quality and elegance.

Meanwhile, if we are to continue the Island tradition of tearing down cinemas, what about taking a look at Cineworld, a building which somehow manages to combine blandness and distressing ugliness, with a view to removing it from Island life? A more fitting candidate for the wrecking ball and the bulldozer would be hard to find.