Manager steps in to save Keswick Alhambra cinema

The manager of a 98-year-old Cumbria cinema is to take over the lease to secure its future.

Tom Rennie has taken on the Alhambra Cinema, in Keswick, which has been operating since 1913.

Mr Rennie has been manager of the single-screen cinema for 20 years and lives nearby.

He said he did not expect to make a lot of money from running it but was hopeful he would be able to keep it open.

"It is a little gem of a theatre and it is very well attended," he said.

"It just needs a little bit more support, a little bit of tweaking at the corners and I think it can turn quite a reasonable profit."

The cinema attracts about 30,000 people a year and has a capacity of 246.

The cinema is a base for the Keswick Film Club and venue for the Keswick Film Festival.

In April, the 100-year-old Lonsdale Alhambra cinema, in Penrith, was saved from closure after a public campaign.