The future looks uncertain for Westgate’s Carlton Cinema.
The picturehouse’s parent company Reeltime Cinemas has gone into administration and the three-screen venue will be sold if a buyer can be found. The company also owns the Kavanagh Cinema in Herne Bay, but the cinemas are likely to be sold separately.
Westgate-on-Sea ward councillor Simon Moores said he was shocked at the news.
“The cinema is a significant historical landmark for the town, not only as one of the biggest cinemas in Kent, but it is such a local institution,” he said.
“This will come as a deep shock to the people of Westgate. It will be a very sad and deeply-felt tragedy if it were to close for good because it has been there for so long.”
The cinema, in St Mildred’s Road, is a hugely popular spot for the isle’s film-goers.
Cllr Moores added: “It is well used and is so popular with the people here – we all have such great memories of the place and it would be a real blow if it closed for good.
“To lose the cinema would be like losing a very old friend and I’m sure many people would feel that way.”
Mark Goldstein Associates have been appointed as administrators.
Reeltime also owned Dreamland Cinema, which closed in 2007.
The Carlton building was put up in 1910 as a town hall but was never used for that purpose. Instead it became Westgate Cinema and was renamed The Carlton in the 1930s.
It has since been designated as a Grade II-listed building.
POSTED: 10/03/2009 09:28:03
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