Telford bank could be turned into 80-seat cinema

The new venue at Wellington's former HSBC bank in Station Approach to replace the old Clifton Cinema in Bridge Road, as enthusiasts lose hope of restoring the old movie house to its past glory.

Representatives of Clifton Community Arts Centre Ltd, which was set up to save the former cinema, are in discussions to acquire a short term lease on the former HSBC building.

A preliminary examination of the building has shown it could be feasible to create an 80 plus seat cinema and cafe-bar on the ground floor and use the upper floors for rehearsal rooms, readings, classes, craft workshops and young people's activities.

It comes after it was revealed that Mythstories, which runs education projects in Wem, is also looking to move into the former NatWest branch on Church Green, which they group say they feel will compliment their own project.

A revised business plan is in preparation by the Clifton group and will be published shortly.

The interim project has already received encouragement both from Wellington Town Council and Telford & Wrekin Council.

The Clifton group has now called on the public to help invest in the project to make it a reality, by continuing to contribute to its share programme.

Fiona Hunter, one of the directors of the Clifton group, said the group remains committed to its ambition to try and secure the Clifton site but hope that this move may help them in their overall aim.

But she said the group has run regular and successful film seasons at venues across Wellington and has received more than 2,700 signatures on its petition to set up a new arts and culture hub in the town, which shows the interest in the project and they feel that they should move forward to create better facilities while the future of the clifton is still undecided.

Mrs Hunter said: "It is exciting but it is also quite challenging.

"Going forward, we hope this might help us to get us where we want to be.

"HSBC is amazingly spacious and I was amazed to see how much space there was upstairs.

"We hope that this will now get more people excited and encourage them to show their interest.

"If we are lucky enough to sign the lease we will be asking people to help out with things like clean-ups that are within their skills. But we are also looking to get investment to help with the refurbishment."

The group has so far raised more than £32,000 from a share offer launched in December 2013.

It was seeking to raise £500,000 to buy and restore the building in Bridge Street which had been empty since soft-furnishings chain Dunelm moved out in 2012.

The Clifton opened as a cinema in 1937, and closed 50 years later. It was used by Dunelm until 2012, when the company moved to Forge Retail Park in Telford.

But they are still no clearer on the future of the Clifton site, with the group having no update from Dunelm on any sale of the building.

In July, the group held an AGM where they discussed the idea of taking on vacant bank premises in Wellington or a former warehouse amid ongoing uncertainty over whether the former Clifton Cinema site will be available.

Members voted to support the motion of exploring the possibility of finding an alternative site, while still actively campaigning to take over the Clifton.

At the start of September, the community benefit society re-launched its Community Share Scheme with initial success and with the added bonus that investors can now reclaim up to 30 per cent of their investment from HMRC through Social Investment Tax Relief.

This is where a person who donates to a social enterprise can reclaim the equivalent tax as if it were a charitable donation.

Details of the share scheme can be seen by visiting enquiries@theclifton.org