Penrith cinema issues urgent 'end of the road' appeal

The Alhambra has three screens ranging from 36 seats to 148

The operators of an independent cinema have warned they can see the "end of the road" amid spiralling costs and dwindling visitor numbers.

The Alhambra in Penrith has cut ticket prices and said unless more people visited it would have to shut.

Manager Matt Bainbridge said the cinema, which opened in 1910, could close in June.

He said the community had already been showing support since he put out an appeal online.

Manager Matt Bainbridge has appealed for more people to use the cinema

Mr Bainbridge said the Alhambra had been in the town for more than a century and it was where he first saw a film in a cinema when he went to watch the Lion King in 1998.

He blamed rising costs and energy prices as the cinema had "reached a point where the sustainability of the business is really difficult", although he said the "biggest problem at the minute is actually getting people into the cinema".

The Alhambra opened in 1910

He told BBC Radio Cumbria: "Towards June is where its starting to look really difficult, there is the possibility of the cinema closing.

"However, the hope is we can turn that around and keep going.

"There are some brilliant films coming out this summer, big budget star vehicles, it would be great to be around for those."

He said he "loved" working at the cinema, which he described as "an asset to the town".

"There has been so much support since we posted about this, hopefully we can continue with that and get bums on seats in the cinema," Mr Bainbridge added.

From Friday the cinema is trialling £5 tickets for all films apart from Event Cinema screenings while "family favourite films" will be shown on weekends for £2.50 per person.

Films set to be released later this year include the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie, The Little Mermaid, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.