The good news about Harorough’s new cinema is spreading fast.  The campaign broke the news in today’s Harborough Mail.  Look out ofr Friday’s Leicester Mercury for mre details in print as well at the Herald and Post.  HFM’s News team have also reported on the story and this has been reported on the station across the day.

We should know within the next 2 weeks when it will be open so keep checking the blog for details of when it will be open and what will be the first film to be shown here!  

Full details of the former Ritz Cinema can now be found on the Intali website.  Remember, if you know of sombody who is in the cinema industry or a property developer who is interested in an great investment oppertunity, this is the time to get in touch.  There has already been a lot of interest in th building since it went up for sale so vist (or tell you friend to vist ) www.intali.com where you wil currently see the site on the home page as a featured property.

As announced in the papers this week, the current owners of the site have put it up foar sale.  Whilst this does not mean that the former Ritz / Kwiksave is safe, it DOES mean that it’s current owners are doing everything they can to sell it, and sell it for use as a cinema.

Think back just 3 months ago when it looked almost certain that the site was going to be lost and Harborough would never have a cinema.  Now it looks likley that the new owners of the site will buy it with a view to making it into a cinema once more.  

Harborough based property company Intali are actively marketing the site to cinema chains and property developers. They can be contatced on 01858 469 123 for more information if you are interested in buying or know sombody within the cinema industry who you think would make a useful contact for them.

There has already been some interested so lets hope the momentum keep up.  

As seen on the front page of Fridays Mercury and on HFM and BBC Radio Leiceter, there has been a big move forward in the campaign.

First of all we have handed in the petition to the council.  In total 8,000 peope have now signed the petition making it the biggest one seen in the town for several decades.  Thank you to eveybody who took the time to visit this site or sign their name up in the shops.  There have been hundreds of people including shop owners who have made this possible.

The result of this pressure has helped us influence the councils position over a cinema.  Three years ago when John Merryweather went to the council explaining the ecconomic arguments.  At the time due to Government priorities, it was felt that housing and retal had to take priority over leisure and that even if a suitable site emerged, it would have to be given over to those uses. Now however, the council has said that this has changed.  An independent report shows that the towns cinema population including the villages is actually 65,000 plus and that a cinema is a priority for the town and a small multi-screen would be viable.

More that that, the council is going to set up a Cinema Task Force with an aim of attracting a suitable property developer to the town prepared to set up a 4 screen in the town. The group will be made up of council staff as well as experts who have experiance of putting such plans together.

None of this would have happened without the campaign and the support of the people of the area.

Also discussed at the meeting was what do do about the lack of cinema facilities in the area and a seperate group was set up to look at short term measures.  In particular, the group will look at making more of the existing Cinema Club in the town.  There will be more news about this on the site in the future, including up to date listings shown at the Harborough Theatre, which may in future include a version of the ‘ABC Minors’ club! 

Thanks to the Tim at the Leicester Mercury for putting the story about the cinema on the front page again.  Tim has spoken to the owner of Real Cinemas in Loughborough who has a chain of old refurbished cinemas across theUK.  He is still interested in the Harborough site and would be a great option to redevelp the building as he has so much experiance at doing this. �