Moving the movies

Len Tingle Political Editor BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

Paramount cinema in Penistone helped with cash from the council

There's a crowd outside the doors of the Picturedrome cinema in the Pennine Market town of Holmfirth.

But they are not there to buy tickets for the next show.

They are holding a protest over plans to convert the 94-year-old building into a huge pub.

"I live in the town. I come here regularly to see films. It's also a live venue for local musicians. My son had his first gig here. It would a great loss," says Caroline Anstey who is helping co-ordinate the "Save our Cinema" campaign...

"We just don't need another pub in the town. this is what we want," says the President of the local business association, Greg Christofi.

"If it isn't making money," he insists, "the local authority should help out. It's at the heart of social life here in Holmfirth."

Protestors Greg Christofi, Caroline Anstey- we don't need another pub

The cinema has closed down before.

In September 1967 a screening of "The Family Way" staring Haley Mills looked as though it would be its last.

A few weeks later it reopened as a bingo hall.

By 1993 even bingo could not keep it open and the lights went out for the next five years.

In 1998 a local businessman bravely brought the cinema back but admits he has struggled to make it pay.

Things came to a head when an application for planning permission was lodged with Kirklees Council just before Christmas.

Negotiations

The name on the application was JD Wetherspoon.

The Watford-based chain already has 670 pubs throughout the country and has a reputation for converting unlikely buildings...

Protestors outside the threatened Picturedrome cinema in Holmfirth

The current operator and J.D. Wetherspoon have confirmed they are in negotiations but have said little else.

Kirklees planning committee meets in February to decide on the application.

Protesters, now calling for a council subsidy, do not have to look far to see a similar community cinema and entertainment centre benefiting from public money.

It is just six miles to the Paramount Cinema in Penistone but its recent history is a world away.

It has just been refurbished with plush new red seats installed.

It is almost as old as the Picturedrome but right from the start it has been run as a council amenity.

It came near to crisis in the 1990's when cutbacks almost forced its owners, Barnsley District Council, to shut it down.

Silver subsidy?

Cllr Peter Starling of Penistone Town Council- small subsidy is popular locally

However, a trust was set up and, subsidised by the local Town Council, came to the rescue.

"We now put in £25,000 a year," says Chairman of Penistone Town Council, Peter Starling.

"Ticket sales for the cinema and some live shows we put on, cover running costs and our contribution goes towards the upkeep of the building."

He says the subsidy is not an issue: "The money comes from taxes raised locally and the same people see the benefit. As far as we are concerned it is money well spent."

So should the silver screen be subsidised?

It is just one of the questions tackled by the Politics Show for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire as it comes live from the Paramount Cinema in Penistone on Sunday January 28.

Let us know what you think.

Join the Politics Show team on Sunday 28 January 2007 at 12:00 GMT on BBC One.

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