Campaign to save the Regal growing

THE Melton community is banding together in a bid to save the town’s much-loved Regal Cinema.

When the news broke two weeks ago that the cinema, in King Street, was going into liquidation folllowing the untimely death of owner John Merryweather in April we were inundated with letters and emails from concerned readers, but now the idea of taking over the venue as a social enterprise is gaining momentum.

Reader Sue Bailey set the ball rolling having witnessed how residents in Leyburn, North Yorkshire, brought their cinema back to life as a registered charity.

The town faced losing its cinema when its owners wanted to retire but volunteers rallied round to raise the £20,000 needed to keep it going for a year by buying ‘community shares’ and then reopened the former Elite Cinema as The Picture House.

Sue has set up a group on Facebook called Saving Regal Melton and hopes to call a public meeting with a speaker from the Leyburn group.

In addition, following a request by the Melton Times, the future of the Regal Cinema will be discussed at the Melton Community Partnership meeting at the Parkside council offices next Thursday (July 19) at 2pm. All those willing to get involved to save the Regal are urged to attend to show their support.

An impromptu meeting of supporters was held on the steps of the Regal on Monday with people offering their skills and services to help save it.

Among them was Tiffany Jones who said: “The cinema experience and the building are unique and we must save it. I don’t want to show my children old photos of it, I want them to enjoy going there.”

Ruth Grogan added: “There’s not much going on for teenagers in Melton but the cinema was a safe place for them to enjoy a little independence.”

And Helen Chamberlain said: “We need the cinema to keep Melton alive. It draws people and visitors into town and without it the whole town will suffer.”

The Regal Cinema, trading as Cinema Solutions Ltd, was due to formally enter voluntatry liquidation at a creditors’ meeting in Leicester today. Contact has already been made with the agents and the Merryweather family who had run the cinema since 2000.

l To join the campaign to save the Regal email [email protected]

Related topics: