Tired and emotional describes the month of July as the political temperature rises and we all hang on desperately for the summer break. Mayor Livingstone has appeared particularly grumpy in the run up to the August recess. Whether this is due to sleepless nights courtesy of baby Tom or the impending electoral year ahead – who knows? But as we head into the August recess my last campaign of the current cycle at London Government has been to push up the agenda – and more particularly up the Mayor’s agenda and nose – the quite urgent need to act to help local cinemas.
We don’t always recognise that our choices are disappearing until it is too late. Now I am quite a fan of the free market – but not in all cases, and I can see choice disappearing from our local high streets. We are seeing our local post offices under threat as sub-post offices close because their profits are being cut by the Government’s change to the ways benefits are paid. If the Government takes the recommendations of the Office of Fair Trading to allow supermarkets to dispense medicines we risk losing our local high street pharmacies too – another nail in our high street coffin. And of course the continual fight to keep our police stations open – or get them re-opened if they have closed – marches on. Our local cinemas are under threat too.
So – over the past few months, I have carried out a survey of all the cinemas in London – and the results show clearly that small, local cinemas are struggling to stay open. Now, I love my huge tub of sweet popcorn and the big block-buster films at Warner Village or O2 as much as the next person. No shame in that. But I also like to go locally to my cinema. Here in Hampstead, for example, the Everyman offers service and facilities quite different to the chains as do many of the independents. Both are valid. Both are needed.
But the results of my survey show that attendance figures are down in half of London’s smaller venues. The survey also pointed up concerns over community safety (‘problems around the tube station stop people coming’), funding (‘there is very little funding available for cinemas such as ours’) and high rates (‘I would like to expand the cinema … no idea where the money would come from … can’t lower the prices due to the rates being so high’).
But imagine Hampstead without the Everyman, Belsize Park and Islington without the Screen on the Hill and the Green and others across London. We need to make sure we support our cinemas – including the chains with local outlets too – or those too will disappear from our local high streets.
London is in danger of losing many of its local gems. Just last year we saw the closure of three in Catford, Greenwich and Kingston. And the loss of a local cinema can have serious consequences on a local economy. Cinemas don’t just provide entertainment. By drawing people into the high street they can provide many social and economic spin-offs. For example, as well as boosting the evening economy of a local high street, cinemas can help improve safety on the streets at night because of having more people around.
Without a local cinema – independent or chain – elderly people, those with disabilities and people without access to a car are denied the pleasure of visiting the cinema. Others simply prefer the ambience of a local cinema to an out-of-centre multiples and the diversity of film choice smaller, independent venues can provide.
I’ve sent the results to Mayor Livingstone to illustrate to him why he needs to do more to support the cinema industry. Thus far in his Cultural Strategy he has paid lip service to the importance of local cinema. His final strategy must go further and outline exactly how the GLA will work with cinemas, local authorities, local communities and other agencies to promote and support local cinemas. I have asked him to use his planning powers to protect the capital’s cinematic heritage and to lobby government for additional funding, particularly to improve access and to set up local educational programmes.
He has put a lot of effort and resources into attracting people to London’s theatres as a fundamental economic imperative to retain our attraction to tourists – well now he needs to expend the same effort ensuring that Londoners have the same attention and devotion lavished on us to preserve the choices that give us diversity in our ability to access culture – and popcorn!
Lynne Featherstone 