Derelict bank becomes town's new community cinema

The former bank has been turned into a 65-seater cinema

A former bank in a Cornwall town has been turned into an intimate 65-seater cinema that has found a loyal following from the community.

Salt Arts CIC, a not-for-profit social enterprise in Saltash, operates the cinema having taken over the lease of the former Barclays branch, which closed seven years ago.

The restoration of the derelict building has cost £140,000 with leaks in the roof and dilapidated rooms, paid for with grants including Cornwall Council's Levelling Up Fund and Saltash Town Council.

Lindsay Endean, director of Saltash Studios, said: "I'm a strong believer that bringing art and culture into town centres makes them lovely, friendly, prosperous places to live."

Lindsay Endean says "the potential benefit to all the other businesses on the High Street is huge"

Saltash has not had a cinema since The Regal closed in 1964 and Ms Endean saw the opportunity to open one when the lease of the bank came up two years ago.

"It's taken a long time, we started off with work space here, I've got people doing creative activities upstairs so people have desks and offices upstairs, which helps fund the building," said Ms Endean.

Despite its compact size, the cinema is fully equipped with a 3m-wide (about 10ft) screen, high-quality digital projection, and Dolby Surround Sound.

"A licensed bar and freshly made popcorn round out the atmosphere, " said Ms Endean.

The Regal Cinema was built on the site of properties destroyed in the Blitz

"We've had great crowds from everything to Bridget Jones, to a French film called Oh My Goodness."

She explained they had also shown some "local films, we had a film about Kerdroya, the Cornish Labyrinth, and that was extremely well attended".

"It's really drawing people in from across the town. We open up about half an hour before the film shows and people come in at that time and chat.

"Here you're going to know half the audience, it makes the funny films funnier and the sad films sadder."

Volunteer Sarah Martin says the cinema has turned "into something quite special for the community"

Volunteer Sarah Martin said: "I was talking to Lindsay from the very beginning when she was thinking of taking this derelict building and turning it into something quite special for the community.

"I think that just driving by and seeing that the building is just being used for something quite fabulous makes a huge difference."

She said a knock-on effect was that "everyone is talking about revitalising streets, Fore Street in town, that's really happening here".

"The more people see, the more they want to help out here and be part of it and that's why the group of volunteers is growing all the time."