Images reveal plan for borough's new community cinema

The impressions show what the facility being created by Leigh Film Society will look like.
Images showing what Leigh Film Society's new cinema will look likeImages showing what Leigh Film Society's new cinema will look like
Images showing what Leigh Film Society's new cinema will look like

The group has shared the computer-generated images as several months of work begin to create the cinema on an upper floor of Leigh Spinners Mill.

The award-winning charity hopes to be able to seat around 135 movie-goers in the new facility, which will have many of the features of a multiplex screen.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

There will also be a bar area and ticket booth, with the whole place having an industrial feel which is contemporary but fits with the heritage building it is located in.

Society development director Elizabeth Costello said: “When the opportunity came around to have our own space at the iconic Leigh Spinners Mill we jumped at the chance. It’s an exciting new venture, a community cinema built entirely by volunteers for the entire borough to enjoy.

Volunteers are donating their skills and time freely to make this project happen.

“To have our own cinema means we have control of our diary to have more group projects and join in with national film events.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It is expected to take several months to build the new cinema, especially as all work will have to comply with social distancing requirements during the coronavirus pandemic.

The auditorium will have space for wheelchairs at the front before the seats, which have come from the IMAX cinema at the London Science Museum, are installed on a tiered structure.

The team at Leigh Film also hopes to have fabric on the walls to help with the sound quality.

There is also a strong green element to the project with film society trustee Ian Morris, who founded Leigh eco-shop The Replenishery with his partner Olga Salajkova, working on making the new cinema as environmentally-friendly as possible.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Leigh Film has also been receiving support from the community as Covid-19 has brought an end to its programmes of screenings, with its scheme to Sponsor A Seat providing vital funding for the building work.

One of the projects in the pipeline for the new venue is a children’s film club which the charity hopes to set up in collaboration with schools across the Leigh area.

Leigh Film Society stressed the new venue does not mean it will be cutting ties with the places it has previously shown films, with events planned to continue at the likes of The Turnpike Centre and Leigh Parish Church.

For details visit www.leighfilmsociety.com