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26
Mar
Plans submitted for new cinema in Ripon
Plans to open a three-screen cinema on Fishergate in Ripon have been submitted.
It will be 1,000 days tomorrow (March 27) since the Curzon closed on North Street, leaving the city without a cinema.
Ripon Business Improvement District revealed today that independent cinema operators John Tate and John Hewitt have applied to North Yorkshire Council for planning permission to operate a cinema in the Original Factory Shop, which has traded in the city for more than 40 years and has been running a closing down sale.
Mr Tate, who runs cinemas in Wetherby and Ilkley, told Ripon BID:
Ripon is one of the few places of its size in the north of England that is without a cinema and we have been looking for an opportunity there for six years, as we believe that it is a city on the up and with great potential.
We are delighted to have signed a lease, subject to planning, for a change of use from retail unit to cinema on 14–16 Fishergate and hope to secure the necessary permission to proceed as soon as possible.
He added the cinema would show films ranging from new releases and independent foreign-language films to Royal Opera House productions.
Ripon BID manager Lilla Bathurst said it was “phenomenal news”, adding:
We will do everything within our power to support the application, which will add substantially to the city’s retail and leisure offering.
I believe that this £1.25 million investment will be the catalyst for further inward investment in our thriving city.
Robert Sterne, director of Sterne Properties Ltd, which owns the North Street unit that was previously occupied by Curzon, told Ripon BID “the ship has now sailed” on its attempts to broker a deal with Curzon to reopen cinema on the site.
Mr Sterne added the company remained “fully committed” to returning the premises to use as a family leisure facility for people of all ages and welcomed news of the proposed cinema on Fishergate.
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