Bognor Regis Picturedrome supporters turn out in force

They protested in front of the historic cinema on Tuesday (March 6) with placards and a banner as the civic society’s petition to protect the two-screen venue topped 4,500 names in a month.

The petition is being kept open to allow as many people as possible to add their names and ensure a strong message is sent to Arun District Council when it holds a debate into the cinema’s future.

One of those at the protest, Bognor resident Laura McCorquodale, 33, said: “I am speaking on behalf of a lot of parents.

“We will not able to go to a multiplex cinema as families, let alone eat at one of the posh restaurants that will be next to it.

“We regularly come here on Fridays and Saturdays. My children come here to meet their friends. It’s historic and it’s nostalgic.

“Three generations of my family have come here. We need a public meeting where our ideas about what could regenerate Bognor can be brought forward.”

Fellow protester and Chichester High School student Lisa Keet, 15, was with her younger sister, Suzannah Keet, ten. She said: “I come here every week to watch films and meet my friends. I wouldn’t be able to do that at a multiplex.”

Civic society deputy chairman Hugh Coster said: “The growth of the petition shows no sign of slowing. It shows people care a lot about the Picturedrome.”

The petition can be signed at the cinema as well as shops such as Print-In, High Street; Bon Bon, Glamis Street; Unique Promotions, The Arcade; Heaps of PCs, London Road; The Codfather, London Road; Linden Fisheries, Linden Road; and Youngs 99p Shop, Station Road.

For more from the protest, see this week’s Observer (Thursday, March 8) edition, out now.