News story

26th April 2004

Yate cinema Campaign takes Big Step Forward

Yate shopping centre owners CIT have briefed local MP Steve Webb at Westminster about a big step forward in the campaign for a cinema at Yate. Earlier this year CIT commissioned a study from cinema expert John Sullivan who has been involved in cinema projects across the country to see if a cinema in the Yate/Sodbury area would make commercial sense.

Steve Webb has now been shown a copy of that report which analyses factors such as the size of the local population and the location of alternative  cinemas. The key conclusion of the report, which pays tribute to the "active grassroots Cinema4Yate campaign" is that a cinema would, in principle be viable.

The next step is to invite cinema operators to express interest in operating a cinema of perhaps five or six screens at Yate CIT have prepared a brochure for operators to consider and they have until the end of May to respond.

In the mean time, cinema surveys are continuing to pour in, whilst many other residents are visiting the campaign website - www.Cinema4Yate.com. Steve Webb will be shortly be sending a further huge batch of survey forms to the shopping centre owners to encourage them to press ahead with the cinema plan.

Steve Webb said:

"There is still a long way to go, but the report by the consultants is a huge step forward. For the first time in years it has been accepted that the Yate/Chipping Sodbury area is big enough to sustain a worthwhile modern cinema. I am very hopeful that an operator will now be found and that we are now much nearer to the goal of getting a cinema opened".