Hackney Council has given the go-ahead to a multi-million pound proposal made by the owners of Shoreditch's Village Underground to turn an abandoned art deco cinema in Dalston into a new arts and music venue.

As Resident Advisor reports, the new venue, which will be called Hackney Arts Centre, was signed off by the council's licensing committee during a meeting on Thursday (July 20), with the council having received 428 letters of support for the project as well as 12 letters of objection.

"We're hugely excited for this and for the future of the project as we now have the opportunity to build a world class cultural venue for Hackney and London," Village Underground founder Auro Foxcroft told Resident Advisor. "It's a testimony to Hackney Council that they support major arts projects in this way, that they believe in their local cultural organisations and ultimately, that they act on the belief that culture and art are fundamental to us all, as individuals and society as a whole."

Work has already begun on getting the space ready for its reopening next year, with the space, which is situated on Stoke Newington Road, having first opened in 1936 as a cinema. It screened its final film, Scarface, in 1984. The team behind Village Underground want to use the space as multipurpose arts and music venue, also offering theatre, art and other projects.

The owners hope to have the venue fully operational by spring of next year, though part of the space is expected to open later this year.