St Albans cinema fund passes £900,000 mark (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

St Albans cinema fund passes £900,000 mark

5:04pm Monday 1st March 2010 in

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THE fund to buy the Odeon in London Road and restore it to a working cinema has passed the £900,000 mark, thanks to a continuous influx of generous donations.

Cinema entrepreneur James Hannway, who by lunchtime today had amassed £911,000 towards the £1 million purchase price, says he is more determined than ever to close the deal.

Mr Hannaway told the Review today: "We are going to keep going until we are told we can't go any further or they (the site's owner) say they have sold it. We are not going to stop now."

Mr Hannaway did set himself a deadline of Friday, February 26, to stump up the shortfall having over-run two deadlines to exchange contracts with the site's owners.

But Mr Hannaway insists the focus is firmly back on accumulating the remaining £89,000 to buy the building.

He added: "It's all ordinary money. It's not big heavy investment money. It's not people who are trying to get something from it or those looking for a financial investment. It's ordinary people who have given all kinds of money. They want to see the cinema. Their investment is in seeing it back and not for any personal or financial gain."