Reopening date set for community cinema

The cinema closed in April 2024 when the people running it decided to retire

A reopening date has been set for a town's community cinema.

Birmingham-based charity Maona Arts plans to start showing films at the former Kinokulture cinema in Oswestry, Shropshire, from 5 July, with an 'official opening' the day before.

The cinema closed in April 2024 when the people who had run it for 14 years, Ian Garland and Ruth Carter, retired.

Since then, Maona Arts has raised more than £28,000 to pay for the restoration of the building and signed a lease for it on Saturday.

James Bond, the chair of the Oswestry Film Society, said volunteers would spend the next month getting the cinema ready to reopen.

He said it needed a "good clean" inside and out after lying empty for so long.

The society has been hosting live cinema nights at the Hermon Chapel arts centre on Wednesdays since Kinokulture closed.

The money raised would meet the costs of the lease for 12 months, plus seating, and a refurbished box office and bar.