Covid: Microcinema reopens in Bournemouth after pandemic revamp

Bournemouth Colosseum reopens on Monday

One of the smallest cinemas in the UK is to reopen for the first time since the pandemic and following a major refurbishment.

Bournemouth Colosseum microcinema, which has just 25 seats, is housed in the basement of a Victorian arcade, dating to 1874.

The cinema, which has been closed since March 2022, has undergone a £20,000 revamp.

It reopens on Monday when it will show Ukrainian-based thriller Mr Jones.

Owner Paul Whitehouse, who collects film memorabilia, said: "I'll put a foreign film on at 2pm on a rainy day and people come who would never go to that kind of film, and they love it."

The building has been used as a cinema since 2014

The cinema shows modern movies "age-old classics" from the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and foreign films.

It has also broadcast live opera and the Australian Open tennis final, Mr Whitehouse said.

The building has been used as a cinema since 2014 and was previously a shoe shop.

Mr Jones is a 2019 film about a journalist's travels through 1930s Soviet Union.