IT has played a vital role in Huddersfield’s entertainment life for 165 years.

It’s been a riding school, a music hall, a cinema and a nightclub.

But now the distinctive premises fronting on to Huddersfield’s busy ring road is closed and boarded up.

And the Che Bar is back on the market.

Buyers may be able to snap it up for as little as £100,000, according to the estate agent handling the sale.

But uses for the building could be limited, as it is completely fitted out as a nightspot and conversion costs could be costly.

There is also the little matter of an annual rent of £100,000, as the building is being sold leasehold.

The Che bar closed last week, having recently changed its name from Livingstones.

Prior to that it was known as the Rat and Parrot, having being opened by the Wolverhampton and Dudley Brewery in 1999.

But it’s the history of the place that makes it all the more fascinating.

The building, which stood at the bottom of Ramsden Street, was opened in 1846 as a riding school. It also served as a temporary base for circuses visiting Huddersfield.

It then became the Theatre Royal and hosted music hall stars from across the country before being taken over as a Drill Hall and armoury by the local Territorial Army units.

In the 1870s, the building even had a brief spell as a rollerskating rink.

The Milton United Congregational Sunday School and the Salvation Army held services there for a brief period, but it was as a cinema that it became best known.