Axe falls on Hatter Street cinema
The Hollywood Film Theatre, in Hatter Street, Bury St Edmunds, is set to close next week.
The oldest cinema in town will close on Thursday, after Hollywood Cinemas revealed it was pulling out.
Pat Church, general manager, was given notice just two weeks ago the cinema was set to close.
Mr Church, who has worked there for 42 years, said: "We were all quite shocked for a couple of days and the staff are still quite raw.
"No-one was expecting it to happen."
The four full-time and three part-time staff running the film house will lose their jobs – some have worked there for 20 years.
But Mr Church, 61, is hopeful he will find another independent cinema firm to keep the historic building as a working picture house.
He said: "We are going to do everything we can to relaunch ourselves.
"I'm sure people feel the same way I do and it would be great to get some public support."
Norman Jacobs, who owns the building and adjoining bingo hall, is keen to keep the building open as a cinema.
Mr Jacobs, from Wisbech, who owns cinemas and bingo halls in Wisbech and Fakenham, was made an MBE last week for services to business and charity in East Anglia.
He said: "I have been in theatres and cinema my whole life and I am keen to keep the cinema open.
"Bury is a lovely cinema and has been very popular over the years."
Originally the Central Cinema, which opened in 1924, the picture house has changed hands many times during its long history. Hollywood Cinemas took over in November 2005, when Odeon pulled out.
But in the face of competition from the Cineworld multiplex, which opened in Parkway, Bury, in the same week, Hollywood Cinemas found it could not compete with mainstream films.
Trevor Wicks, director of Hollywood Cinemas, said: "The market has never been there for mainstream films because you have already got a mainstream cinema up the road.
"I think it would be a fantastic art house cinema and be there for many years, exactly as it should be."
Anyone interested in running the cinema as a trust or taking it over as a working cinema can contact Mr Church on 01284 762586.
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Weather for Bury St Edmunds
Thursday 24 May 2012
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