Rent row could close Bognor's cinema

Film fans could find themselves without a Bognor Regis cinema.

The town's two big screens in the Picturedrome could go dark because a rent row threatens the future of the venue.

A payment due next week (FEB 19) will bring the argument to a head. The cinema's operator, the Picturedrome Electric Theatre Company Ltd, will hand over its usual quarterly rent on Thursday.

But the building's owner, Bognor Pier Co Ltd, will be expecting a payment to reflect the increased charge it wants to levy. If the payment falls short of their demands, they are likely to begin court action.

Picturedrome Electric Theatre managing director Adam Cunard stressed he wanted to see the historic building kept open.

"All we want to do is to sit down and talk with the pier company to resolve this matter," he said. "We certainly don't want to see the cinema close and we don't want the situation to come to that. There are 15 staff here, some of whom have worked here for 20 years, and it would terrible if they lost their jobs.

"I don't think anyone in the town would want to see the cinema close but we can't afford to pay the new rent which is being demanded.

"All the owners will do is end up having an empty building. There were no new operators queuing up to take this on when we did and there's no one queuing up now.

"I can't see what else the building can be used for. It would just be boarded up, especially in the current economic climate."

The row comes as the Picturedrome is about to celebrate 90 years as a full-time cinema. It first film showing was on June 15, 1919, to make it among the oldest in Sussex.

But the building had occasionally shown films in the early 20th century following its opening as The New Assembly Rooms in 1885.

Its place in Bognor's history is shown by the area around its site at the junction of Canada Grove and Linden Road being recognised by Arun District Council as having special planning status.

Moves are being made to make the Picturedrome a listed building to further acknowledge its historical importance.

The Picturedrome Electric Theatre Co took on the two screens - now of 360 seats and 87 - in April 2007 as an operating company of Anaid Holdings Ltd. Prices were slashed to encourage audiences. The tactic worked.

Average attendance in the past year was 1,300 a week - about five times the number under the previous operator.

But much of the extra income has been spent on 100,000 of improvements to a building which had slowly deteriorated.

Planned further refurbishment has been halted until the outcome of the rent dispute.

The pier company - separate from the firm which owns the town's pier - wants to almost treble the building's rent from 16,000 a year to 45,000.

Even this is much larger than the original demand for an annual payment of 75,000. The figure was reduced by an independent mediator. The increase will be backdated to last May to add to the burden on the cinema's operator.

Mr Cunard said: "That sort of money is beyond us. I'm not sure any traditional town centre cinema could afford that. We have done remarkably well in turning the cinema around. It was losing about 30,000 a year before us.

"We are willing to pay an annual rent just above 20,000 and we are willing to hand back the flat in the cinema, the car park and even the cinema kiosk to the owners if they want so that we can just run the screens."

Bognor Pier Co secretary and director Josephine Carter said Anaid took on the cinema's lease in 2007 with a rent review due the next year.

"Under the terms of the lease, if the tenant and landlord can't agree on the new rent, it will be put to an independent expert. He was appointed by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

"The tenants are bound to accept that results of that review. Anaid were aware there would be an increase in the rent when they took on the lease," she stated.

"If they don't pay the rent, they will be taken to court, as would be the case in any instance like this."