Member Article

£2.8m for historic cinema restoration

A project to restore an historic cinema in Newcastle to its 1930’s heyday has taken a significant step further after £2.8m funding was secured. Plans to restore the Tyneside Cinema’s art deco glory have already secured funding of over £6m, including over £36,000 from donations from hundreds of individual supporters since the summer.

This latest round of funding, secured from the Heritage Lottery Fund, will go a long way to ensuring that the restoration project can go ahead. Plans for the Cinema, which was built in 1937, include extending the roof to create two new screens and more space for digital filmmakers of the future to learn their craft.

Mark Dobson, Chief Executive of the Tyneside Cinema, said: “The Tyneside Cinema has a special place in the lives of so many people, both in the region and beyond. We are thrilled that we will be to restore this unique piece of British heritage and at the same time expand and extend the building so that we engage ever more people with independent film from across the world.

“We have been thrilled by the donations we have received from individual supporters. Many of them have been sent with letters of memories of films seen over the years and encouraging us to continue to screen the wide range of cultural films we have built our reputation on. We are tantalisingly close to reaching our target, but we still need people to help us ‘Make the Change’.

“The Cinema has now launched the next stage of its public appeal to close the final funding gap, with filmgoers and visitors to the Coffee Rooms being asked if the Cinema can “Keep the Change…Make the Change” to reach the final stage of its fundraising campaign. People can find out more about the appeal by phoning 0191 260 3875 or emailing appeal@tynecine.org.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .