Campaigners 'hopeful' of reopening historic Liverpool cinema
A fundraiser needs to reach ÂŁ450,000 by Friday
Those leading a campaign to reopen Liverpool's oldest cinema say they're 'hopeful' and 'reasonably confident' that they'll reach their fundraising target by this week's deadline.
Woolton Picture House, which first opened in 1927, closed because of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
A Community Interest Company was set up last year to raise funds to buy and refurbish the building.
ÂŁ450,000 is needed by Friday 8 May. If that isn't reached, then it won't reopen and donations will be refunded.
If it is reached, fundraising will then continue towards the refurbishment work.
Iain Christie, a director of Woolton Cinema Community Interest Company, said:
"We've had so much interest. We've had public meetings which have been booked out, we've had Facebook and websites full of offers of help and offers of money.
"We were open over Christmas for 12 days, we opened up at Valentines Day for the weekend, we did some films over Easter and this last month we've been doing every weekend.
"We've had people buying tickets in their thousands, we've sold more than 20,000 tickets across that time and its shown us just how much the local community want the cinema to be there.
"That's shown in the donations as well. We had ÂŁ100,000 donated early on from Harry Crampton which was incredible, we had a ÂŁ25,000 foundation from the Ken Dodd Charitable Foundation which is brilliant, we've had a couple of ÂŁ10,000s and a couple of ÂŁ5,000s, but the bulk of the money has come in through 10s and 20s and 50s from ordinary everyday people and that's shown how much the building is wanted.
More than ÂŁ444,500 has been raised so far, with just days left to hit the target.
Mr Christie added:
"We're hopeful, we're reasonably confident, but you don't know until the money is in the bank and we'd really encourage anyone who wants to see this happen - whether they're from the area or not - if they want to see a beautiful old cinema celebrating its 100th birthday in Liverpool, donate and find out a bit more about what we're doing."