sentences:  The Council's decision to purchase the Regent was one of the factors that, ironically, ensured the theatres’ survival, since they were subject to public pressure where a private owner would not have been.In 1974 the National Trust declined to list the theatre, claiming it was not of sufficient significance.The same year Lord Mayor Alan Douglas Whalley demanded that the Regent be demolished, presenting a report headed by Sir Roy Grounds to quell the conservationists and claiming that the Regent was not worthy of preservation in declaring that it was "not the Colosseum".