Historic cinema needs £70k for new projectors

A couple who run a historic cinema fear they may have to close if they fail to raise £70,000 for two new projectors.

Andy Lougher runs the Palace Cinema, Cinderford, with his wife, Karen, and said they currently use an NEC 1200 projector which has a "limited lifespan" left after 12 years of use.

Karen has set up a fundraising page and the couple have been selling old film posters to help fund two new projectors - one for each screen - and installation.

The cinema was built in 1910 and she said there were only "about six from roughly 1910/1911 left in the country".

"These old cinemas are very important because they're from right at the beginning of the start of cinema," she added.

Andy said parts for the projector "are becoming less available" as time goes on.

"This is one of the early batches of projectors," he said.

"They're still current, but they are basically a computer; there's not many people really have a 12-year-old computer these days."

Karen said the Palace Cinema was built 116 years ago by a man who thought cinema "was a bit of a flash in the pan", so it was constructed to also be used as a theatre.

She said the Covid pandemic had caused challenges for the venue, with the cost of living crisis pushing the cinema's kiosk, utility and maintenance prices up.

"This year, the films have been better so we're very hopeful that it is a turning point," said Karen.

"The cinema is in quite a deprived area - it's one of the most deprived in the country, apparently - so we try and keep all the costs as low as possible so that families can get an outing, really."

Despite the uncertainty, she said the Palace had a loyal customer base, with some coming in every week, and others sometimes watching several films a day.

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