Courtroom becomes cinema for new Paddington film

A large projector now stands where magistrates would have once presided over their courtroom

The third film in the Paddington series opened in cinemas across the UK on Friday, but one venue in particular has had more trouble than most to get ready to show the film.

Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) and asbestos were found in the roof of the Abbey Cinema, in Abingdon, last month.

The venue had been forced to suspend any showings, pending a full investigation and remedial work.

Since the defects were discovered, the venue has created a temporary auditorium in the town's former magistrates' court - just in time for the release of Paddington in Peru.

Manager Sue Wiper said the discovery of the dangerous materials had been a "total disaster".

"I'm feeling really sad because we had a beautiful cinema with loads of people coming in and a lot of fun, loads of community events running, and now we don't," she said.

Sue Wiper manages the Abbey Cinema

Abingdon Town Council, which owns the building, had planned to close it in September 2025 for a major refurbishment.

It was during preliminary scoping works ahead of this that the previously unknown presence of RAAC and asbestos was discovered.

RAAC is a form of cheap, lightweight concrete that has a limited lifespan of about 30 years and is susceptible to structural failure.

The Abbey Cinema is in Abbey Hall - which is connected to Abingdon Guildhall

With the help of the town council, the cinema screen has been relocated across a few corridors to an older part of the town's Guildhall - which used to host its magistrates' court.

"One of the reasons we panicked a bit was that when all this stuff happened with the main auditorium, we thought 'oh no we're just coming up to a great season'," Ms Wiper said.

"We thought 'what a disaster', but actually it's not a disaster because we're going to have a lovely time here [in the former magistrates' courtroom].

"What we've done is we've managed to create the most beautiful space without interfering with the historic fabric of the building."