Former Stafford cinema 'left to rot' up for sale again after change-of-use plan falls flat

The doors to Stafford Cinema in Newport Road remain closed -and for sale signs have gone up on the building in recent weeks.

The two-storey venue was put up for auction in 2022 after the cinema finally closed in 2021 – 85 years after it first opened as an Odeon with the first film screened being Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times. Later in 2022 there was talk of the cinema being transformed into a music venue for the town, but this move – understood to have been put forward by a third party – did not happen.

Speaking in 2022 the owner of the lease, who asked not to be named, said: “Distributors are putting films out on streaming as opposed to cinemas. (Industry charity) the BFI has chosen to see it go. It has been left to rot.”