Theatre school of the stars is on the move

The home of the theatre school which launched the careers of Amy Winehouse and Leona Lewis is to be transformed into a block of flats.

The Sylvia Young Theatre School will leave its Marylebone home, where it has been for the past 20 years, because of a lack of space.

The school's owner and namesake, who was recently awarded an OBE for her services to the arts, is requesting planning permission to redevelop the site in Rossmore Road into nine flats.

If planning chiefs give the project approval the school will lease the 11th Church of Christ Scientist in nearby Nutford Place, enabling them to meet the rocketing demand for places.

Sylvia Young, who has helped nurture stars including Emma Bunton, Denise Van Outen and Keeley Hawes, said the school was outgrowing the building.

Planning permission for flats was being sought because it would make the school building more marketable as and when it is up for sale.

Mrs Young said: "I don't want to say too much, but we are looking to obtain planning permission as a kind of insurance policy." She said that she hoped it wouldn't be necessary to redevelop the building, and was optimistic that another school might take over the site. She added that she was committed to remaining in the Marylebone area.

Since moving from its original home in Drury Lane 25 years ago the £9,000-a-year private school, which caters for 10- to 16-year-olds, has become an institution in Marylebone.

John Falding, former chairman of amenities society the Marylebone Association, said the school would be sorely missed. He said: "It gave a certain amount of vibrancy to the area and I fear a loss of character. I hope [the building] doesn't become yet another soulless enclave." Winehousejoined the school as a shy 12-year-old. Speaking about her memories of the Back To Black singer, Mrs Young said: "Amy arrived for her scholarship audition at 12, rather shy and a bit apprehensive.

"Then she sang and all that was forgotten. She lit up the room, her voice was so rich and pure. I've always said she's a cross between a young Judy Garland and Ella Fitzgerald.

"It was because she was so clever that she got bored so quickly. And when she was bored, she would misbehave. Never anything serious or malicious, she was just disruptive."

The school's proposed new Nutford Place base was built in the Twenties and is owned by the Christian Science group.