The new cinema planned for the Blue marketplace will be open in September next year at the latest, the head of the company building it has said.
The three-screen cinema building in the former Thorowgoods building on the west side of the Blue will also have room for other public areas, including possibly a café, food hall or ‘maker-space’ on the ground floor, as well as an art gallery.
Really Local Group, the company redoing the building, will knock down the first floor of the current two-storey building before rebuilding it and adding a second floor on top.
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Preston Benson, the company’s founder, said that they wanted to build the new second floor without having to demolish anything, but a survey revealed that the current first floor was not structurally sound enough to take the extra storey. Work is set to begin in the second half of this year.
Some people have expressed concern that the cinema might not be accessible to local people. Really Local Group is running a survey to find out what films locals want to see in the cinema, as well as what the rest of the space could be used for.
Several hundred people have replied so far, over the month that the survey has been running, but Mr Benson said he was worried that the outreach wasn’t reaching everyone. “There is a certain segment of the community that really likes filling in forms,” he said.
We reported in 2020 that the cinema could have tickets for as cheap as £6.50, and other cinemas run by Really Local Group have ticket prices around that level. Speaking two years on, Mr Benson said he hoped that the Blue cinema could have £6 tickets, but they couldn’t commit to setting prices yet. “We want to keep our ticket prices reasonable,” he said.
There would be a gap in the market for an affordable cinema in the area. Other cinemas nearby include the Surrey Quays Odeon and Kino Bermondsey where prices are considerably higher. An adult ticket at Kino Bermondsey costs £15, while Surrey Quays Odeon is £13.
Mr Benson said: “It’s really exciting – we’re working as fast as we can.”
Take part in the survey here.