The owner of an independent Swansea cinema, bar and cafe has revealed how she is being forced to claim Universal Credit as her business struggles following her legal battle over a breach of coronavirus rules during the pandemic. A video interview featuring Anna Redfern, owner of Cinema & Co, has been posted online in which she has relived her experiences, and spoken about the difficulties currently facing her.
She was hit with fines totalling £15,000 in December last year after admitting breaching Covid public health regulations. She was also ordered to pay £8,940 in prosecution costs, while the firm itself received a £5,000 fine. Redfern also received a suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to contempt of court for opening the cinema in the face of a court order but in a rare move she was subsequently allowed to vacate that plea - in effect withdraw it - and the matter was not proceeded with.
Miss Redfern appealed against the level of the fines and that appeal was part-heard in September when a judge adjourned the hearing and ordered her to produce a detailed audit trail of personal and business finances ahead of making a ruling on the level of the fines and Miss Redfern's ability to pay. That disclosure was to include the whereabouts of tens of thousands of pounds in cash from an online crowdfunding campaign set up by a person who, the court heard, had links to the political far-right, as well as government grants given to the business.
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At a hearing at Swansea Crown Court in October, it emerged that Miss Redfern had dispensed with her barrister and legal team, and had abandoned the appeal. The court also heard the required financial disclosure had not been complied with. The judge made an order for the appellant to pay £8,998 in costs, a figure which he said took into account the money raised by the crowdfunding campaign. Get Swansea stories straight to your inbox with our newsletter.
Speaking during the interview posted online this week, Miss Redfern said: "My business is struggling. I've just signed up for Universal Credit. It's really such a tough landscape. It makes me feel like leaving my hometown which I've got a lot of affection for but it's just so ludicrous this illusion of me being a Nazi. The mind boggles, it really does.
She said she received thousands of messages privately saying she'd given people hope, "but that's indicative of how scared people are to voice their opinions in public. I'm being discriminated against for standing up against discrimination, all because of a false association with the far right."
Miss Redfern spoke of how the fundraiser was the fastest growing cause of its kind, raising £61,000 within two weeks. She explained: "If it wasn't for that money I wouldn't be here now. I tried to donate some of it when I first received it. There's a primary school fund that umbrellas five primary schools which live in stark poverty in Swansea - they have foodbanks, there's just no hope for these kids.
"It took ages for the headmaster who spearheads the fund to get back to me, and when he finally did, he apologised for the delay, but said they had to have a board of governors meeting and said he could not take any money from me because of where the money apparently came from. Because of politics, kids continue to starve, and this made me feel sick to my stomach when I found this out."
The cinema owner explained how her business was "operating at a loss" and had been left out of cultural events such as poetry nights and live music. She explained: "We recently had the Swansea Fringe Festival, which all the city centre venues take part in, but it was unanimously agreed that my venue was not to take part because of this false association with the far right." A court heard previously how big Hollywood studios and distributors including Disney and Warner had withdrawn licences from Cinema & Co to show their films over Miss Redfern's perceived links to the far right
"I'm the most apolitical person there is, all politics does is divide people. It gets us arguing amongst ourselves, and my business is suffering as a result. It's operating at a loss. The crowd funding money has ensured that I survived that, but that run out. £20,000 went towards failed legal representation as well. I withdrew my appeal because it felt like I was going into the Lion's Den."
Speaking of the impact of the battle on her personally, she said: "It's having a detrimental effect on my mental health, and I'm quickly losing my affection for my home town which I've done so much for. If it wasn't for my children I would move. It's really tough, and it makes me really sad. I've done so much for the community on lots of levels, and to be treated this way for something I had absolutely no control over."
Miss Redfern added that she would take a stand again if she was given the choice to go back in time. She said: "I was sick of pretending to comply through fear of losing my livelihood which I guess is quite ironic because it looks like that is going to happen anyway. I stood in my truth and it was a matter of principle. We've got to be vocal because we are having our freedoms and our rights stripped away from us."
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