Cinema blockbuster for Chippenham (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Cinema blockbuster for Chippenham

7:00am Friday 2nd October 2009 in News By Scott McPherson

Peter Carson, Hannah Cooke, Laura Crosby and Jonty James outside the Reel Cinema which is in line for a major overhaul (30032/9)

The owners of Chippenham’s Reel Cinema are to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds turning it into a five-screen multiplex.

The work will signal the biggest changes to the cinema since it was built in May 1939.

Duty manager Hannah Cooke said the massive overhaul of the cinema is long overdue.

She said: “The cinema does look tired and tatty and people have high expectations of cinemas and want them to be big, clean and sparkly.

“We want to give the people in Chippenham something to stay in the town for and not shoot off to Bath or Swindon.

“At the moment we only have the two upstairs screens and we are still using reel-to-reel projectors which means that the films come in on a huge reel and we have to cut them down and stick them together so we get a whole film.

“The new screens down in the old bingo hall will use top of the range digital projectors, which means we will finally be able to screen 3D films.

“Originally we were thinking of having two new screens downstairs but because of the large stone pillars it looks like we will go for three more.

“The whole of the building will be changed, the exterior is going to be transformed to look modern but keep its old fashioned charm, we will have a new foyer downstairs, all new seats, new concessions stands and new air conditioning.”

Although cinema bosses remain tight-lipped about the cost of the renovation it is thought it will run into hundreds of thousands of pounds and is likely to take four months to complete.

The Angel bingo hall, which is based below the cinema, shut suddenly on August 11. The owner John Angel left all the bingo equipment and fruit machines in the building.

Ms Cooke said: “It was all a bit weird. Although the bingo hall was not open every single day it was literally open one day and then shut that evening with a sign in the window saying it was closed.”

Cinema bosses have now submitted planning applications to Wiltshire Council for the interior changes they are hoping to make to the building.

Reel Cinemas took over the lease of the cinema, formerly the Astoria, in 2007 and have since ploughed money into the building by upgrading the seating, heating and interior.