A public meeting has been called by campaigners trying to save a historic old cinema building in east Bristol and stop it becoming a 44-bed accommodation centre.
Developers Landrose have re-submitted a fresh planning application to turn the old Redfield Cinema, most recently the St George’s Hall pub, into a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) for 44 people in 13 ‘cluster units’ where people live in en-suite rooms with a shared kitchen.
A huge campaign was launched back in 2021 against the plans and to try to save the almost completely intact cinema space that originally opened in 1910. Few people realised the existence of the cinema - which was left largely intact but out-of-bounds when Wetherspoons took over the building and converted the downstairs into a pub.
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The first set of plans were submitted last year and triggered the campaign by local residents and arts groups from across the city. The campaign, which is seeking to try to take over the building itself and create a new community arts hub and cinema, was backed by some big Bristol names, including Stephen Merchant.
Developers Landrose withdrew that application last year, but three days before Christmas submitted a new one, that campaigners against it said had changed little.
Now, to reignite the campaign to try to save the old Redfield Cinema, a public meeting is being held on Friday this week, January 13, from 6.30pm to 8pm,at the Bethesda Church just down Church Road from the former pub and cinema, to update local people about the next steps.
The group got the help of architecture students from the University of the West of England to collate all the feedback from previous consultation meetings, and they will present their findings. “The campaign team will provide an update on the vision for the building and next steps on the campaign,” said a Save Redfield Cinema spokesperson. “This is now a critical time if we are to save the building for use by the community.
“We are a group of locals who have come together to prove the validity of saving and operating the site as a cinema, events space and community kitchen – a cultural hub for the area. Among us are people with expertise in cinema operations, planning, architecture, business and CIC governance models, project management, communications, film production, youth work, catering and more. All are welcome to get involved, and we particularly welcome partnerships with people who feel under represented people in the area,” she added.
The cinema was once one of Bristol’s biggest - with 750 seats, and showed films for almost 50 years from 1912 to 1961. Then it became a bingo hall for 20 years, before Wetherspoons bought it in the 1980s.
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