Work could start on £5m cinema scheme later this year if plans are backed
Work will start on plans to bring a £5 million cinema to a Staffordshire shopping centre could start later this year, if the plans are backed.
The scheme would see the former Debenhams store in the Three Spires Shopping Centre, in Lichfield, adapted into a four-screen cinema.
It will cost over £5m with cabinet members on Lichfield District Council recommending the proposal be backed at a meeting next week.
Five food and beverage units will be included in the plans, which will see the authority team up with shopping centre owners Evolve Estates.
Evolve Estates, which has a £300million property portfolio and is part of the M Core group, would invest in the project on a 50/50 basis with the council.
Councillor Doug Pullen, leader of Lichfield District Council, said: "I am delighted that Cabinet has recommended investment in the cinema scheme to full council which will provide the district with an important, and much called for, leisure facility.
“The willingness of Evolve Estates to work with us on the scheme, as well as funding from an established cinema operator, gives me every confidence that this long-awaited scheme will now move forward, and demonstrates our new approach to unlocking the potential on this site is working.”
“The scheme has cross-party support and approval by the council next week would be the final piece of the jigsaw before we can go ahead with the project and make it a reality.”
An operator is in late stage discussions with Evolve Estates and the council and would fit out the cinema element of the building, making it a multi-screen facility featuring a mixture of small (up to 48 seats) and large (up to 120 seats) screens.
Phil Murphy, head of asset management for Evolve Estates, said: "We are extremely pleased that plans for the cinema at Three Spires Shopping Centre have reached the next stage for funding approval and await the decision from Full Council later this month.”
Sebastian MacDonald-Hall, chief investment officer for M Core, added: "It has been decades since Lichfield has had a dedicated cinema and we believe the shopping centre is an ideal location, and will add a much-needed leisure facility in the heart of this thriving, historic shopping destination."
Work could commence on the building before the end of the year subject to any necessary planning permission, if the plans are supported at a meeting on October 20.
