£350,000 raised for St Albans cinema plan (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

£350,000 raised for St Albans cinema plan

9:35am Monday 8th February 2010 in News By Alexandra Barham

THE deadline to raise £1 million to buy the Odeon in London Road and restore it to a working cinema has been extended for another week.

Cinema entrepreneur James Hannaway has until next Monday to find £650,000 needed to complete a deal with the developer.

Mr Hannaway, who successfully restored the Rex Cinema in Berkhamsted, originally had until today to raise the cash.

Mr Hannaway said: "We received over £100,000 on Friday of last week. Taking the total before the weekend to around £350,000 in four weeks.

"This shows both phenomenal trust alongside extraordinary leaps of faith, beyond all expectation. The startling thing, and a true indication of your hope and determination, is that we can raise that £1million to buy the site - if all the pledges come in without needing professional investors outside St Albans. This has been my hope all along. We may well need them and banks to help fund the next stage (£2.5m) for restoration, but that's the next bridge. Let's buy the site with our money first and worry about the rest in March.

"The 'have yet to pay' lines are taken from your tick-boxes on the early forms produced after the public meeting on 29th November. Many cheques have already come in since the bank account was opened on 5th Jan. If the rest come in now - we will own the site."

Marian Hammant of St Albans Civic Society said: "If money is received by next Monday we're in with a chance."

So how can you help?

For £285, sign up for first year membership of the Advanced Booking List at the restored Odeon – possible name Alpha, after the original cinema to operate on this site.

For £1,000, sponsor a chair with your name recorded in perpetuity.

For undying gratitude, give a donation – of any size.

For even more gratitude, offer a loan of £2,500 upwards. Read more about this on the websites, or contact James Hannaway direct at The Rex on 01442 877999.

Make your cheque payable to The Alpha Cinema Ltd/The Alpha St Albans Ltd, and send, giving name, address, telephone nunmber and email, making clear the appropriate category, to The Alpha St Albans, The Rex Cinema, Three Close Lane, High Street, Berkhamsted HP4 2FG.