The structure has architectural significance in the locality due to its distinct style and use of materials; many original features and fittings survive, including the entrance foyer, two staircases and a glazed lantern in the auditorium roof.

[1] The current owner, JD Wetherspoon, put forward proposals for conversion into a pub and hotel which were locally controversial, with the project facing a planning enquiry and licensing difficulties.

[2] Planning permission and an alcohol licence were granted by the City Council in 2020,[3] and the building was converted into a large pub, named The Golden Beam after a painting by Atkinson Grimshaw, which opened June 2021.

The Egyptian influences – a style found nowhere else in Leeds other than Temple Works (1836) in Holbeck – include the papyrus-based capitals topping its pilasters, and the three entrances with moulded stone architraves with amphorae above.

Several pediments comprise the most classical part of the design; a Greek key pattern adorns the decorative gate piers – Portland stone by dressed gritstone walls, while a disc motif is prominent on each of the main elevations.

[7] Headingley, a village turned affluent suburb after the Industrial Revolution, predominantly used the local Millstone Grit (see Geology of Yorkshire) for its Victorian villas, and red brick for terraced workers' housing, as its architectural materials.

Conditional offers were received by CITU (a developer) for a multi-purpose leisure venue, aql for a data centre, and David Lynn intending to lease to The Gym Group, but these ultimately all fell through.

[2] Wetherspoon subsequently decided to apply to operate the building as a 52-bedroom hotel instead, but with extensions to allow more rooms for purposes of viability,[20][21] especially as the Elinor Lupton Centre requires significant refurbishment and restoration.

[22] It stated that "We would hope that an investment of approximately £5m–£6m in Leeds should be welcomed as it will generate 100 new jobs and provide first class hotel facilities for this part of the City, close to the famous Headingley cricket and rugby ground.

[25] An alcohol licence was granted in February 2020, with a condition the pub does not permit entry to people it has reason to believe are participants in the Otley Run, removing the only barrier on refurbishment work commencing.