Calls for new cinema on blaze anniversary (From York Press)

Calls for new cinema on blaze anniversary

3:24pm Sunday 2nd December 2007 in News By Gerran Grimshaw

ON THE 25th anniversary of the blaze that shut down Selby's last permanent cinema, councillors have issued fresh calls for a new picture house.

On December 1, 1982, disaster struck at the Ritz Cinema, which stood at the junction of Scott Road and Flaxley Road. A fire raged through the building, destroying the last picture house in town.

District council leader Mark Crane has said discussions to open up a two or three-screen venue in Selby are still under way.

He said the interested company already operated a number of smaller cinemas around the country.

Coun Crane said two sites had been identified, with one still a possibility, but requiring some work before the operator would be willing to invest.

"This is one of the things I would really love to see happen while I was leader," he said. "If we could get a cinema, that would be great.

"I'm more than willing, subject to council approval, to put some council resources into it - both time and, if necessary, land - to make it happen.

"It's important for all the population, but particularly for young people living in the area.

"I'm personally committed to try and make it happen."

The Ritz was the last permanent cinema in Selby. The town's other picture houses, the Hippodrome and the Central, both closed down in the 1950s.

Coun Jude Thurlow, who represents Selby North ward, where the Ritz used to be located, used to work at the Hippodrome when he was a schoolboy.

He has long campaigned for a new cinema for the people of Selby. "We've tried all these years to get a cinema in Selby," he said.

He said sites at the Three Lakes Retail Park, in Bawtry Road, and the former Kwik Save supermarket, in Gowthorpe, had been suggested in the past.

He said any new cinema would have to be located somewhere between Flaxley Road and Abbot's Road, in order for it to be within easy reach of the major communities in the town.

Selby MP John Grogan has also fought for a new picture house. In 1999 he launched a campaign to secure a new cinema, which he then resurrected in 2002.

He said: "The 25th anniversary of the loss of Selby's last cinema will be a poignant one for many. A whole generation has grown up in the meantime.

"Whenever I speak to young people at Selby High School or Selby College, it's always the first topic to come up.

"So if the district council can see a way of taking this forward, I would be fully supportive."