The Woolton Picture House is fundraising to re-open next year. A community project has been set up to raise £700,000 to refurbish and re-open the iconic Merseyside venue.
If the plan succeeds, Liverpool’s oldest cinema should be welcoming visitors by Boxing Day 2027, to celebrate it’s 100th birthday, under it’s new brand ‘Woolton Community Cinema’.
But local people will not need to wait so long to get back inside the venue. As part of the fundraising drive, the Picture House will be hosting ‘the 12 days of Christmas’ event from the 12th– 24th December this year – screening a different festive film each day. The films will include: It’s a Wonderful Life, Nativity and Elf. However still pre-renovation, it will be a different viewing experience.
The Picture House has been closed since the first Covid lockdown in 2020. Kevin Fearon and Gillian Miller, who were behind the successful renovation of Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre, had the idea to rejuvenate the site on an evening walk.
Iian Christie, Board member said: “They [Kevin and Gillian] are local residents, they were walking past one night and they said what hundreds of other people have said ‘Someone should something about that’. Then they said… ‘maybe we should.’”
Kevin and Gillian have turned the Royal Court into a commercial success over the past 20 years. They are planning to transfer their expertise to this project, whilst taking a different approach in terms of the business model.
They have set up a Community Interest Company (CIC), meaning the project is not for profit and run by the community.
Iian added: “They wont be running it, it’s not for them, the structure of the CIC means it can only be used as a cinema, it can’t be sold on, so once it’s bought by the community, it will be owned and ran by the community.”
Booking for this Christmas season will be available in November, and all the ticket funds will go towards the renovation.
Referring to the current derelict state of the cinema, Iian joked that this year’s festive screenings will be taking place in somewhat dishevelled style: “People will be here in coats- please bring a coat! We want to see how interested people are and we want people to see it, the work that needs doing and what this cinema could be!”
The CIC model will rely on a team of volunteers who will communicate with the community to ensure they are providing exactly what the public want.
Iian said: “We really really need to listen to the community and see what they want here- if we were to open it as a straight up cinema putting on the biggest blockbusters on a Friday and Saturday night, we’d probably closed within six months.”
The CIC has put out a big survey seeing what the people want, resulting in a demand for alternative cinema including: arthouse, manga, documentaries, classics and short films. They also received lots of requests for different types of social events such as Dementia screenings, mother and baby screenings and family screenings.
It’s this undeniably strong public relationship and community feel that will gain popularity for the picture house if it reopens. Another appealing factor that will make the landmark stand out, is it’s nostalgic value. Generations of Liverpudlians have been going to the picture house since it opened in 1917, and many will be eager to return to relive their youth and pass its tradition to the next generation.
Iian said: “People’s memories are what will make this work. There is a huge amount of goodwill for the building in this area. Because everyone remembers coming here when they were kids, dropping their Maltesers and watching them roll down the steep rake!”
The CIC are relying on donations from the public and local business owners to fund the project. The first week has been a success manging to raise over £15,000. But there is still a long way to go.
