Light House Cinema celebrates box office boost in ticket sales

The independent cinema, based in the Chubb Buildings, made an appeal for help to safeguard its future at the end of last year as it struggled to make ends meet.

Now bosses have revealed it enjoyed ticket sales of more than £27,000 in December – its highest yet for the month.

The sales were 48 per cent above budget and 61 per cent up on December 2018, an increase of more than £10,000 in income from sales.

Year-to-date sales have also increased 11.5 per cent last year, the figures, released at a trustees board meeting revealed.

Kelly Jeffs, who is chief executive of the independent cinema, described the results as fantastic.

"Our figures reveal a continuing growth in ticket sales over the last seven years," she said.

"The Christmas period saw Light House Cinema closed for just five days across the holiday, but figures reflect that the increase in ticket sales isn’t only due to the fact we chose to be open over Christmas, it’s also down to a brilliant increase in engaging new audiences along with our growing loyal supporters.

“Our volunteers have worked so hard across the Christmas period and we’re really grateful to them."

The news provides some breathing space for the registered charity, which revealed it was battling for survival last year.

It has been running in the city since 1991 and includes a cafe bar and galleries.

But it has been struggling ever since it lost a council subsidy worth £73,000 – with the cinema constantly needing funding to cover its costs.

Ms Jeffs said she hoped the figures would now act as a stepping-stone for the charity's future, adding: "We're looking forward to building on our success and offering our customers a dynamic viewing experience for 2020."