Redundancies at Longridge's Palace but owner pledges to reopen when possible with new business model

Staff at Lancashire's most historic cinema are being made redundant due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lara Hewitt pictured outside The Palace Cinema on Market Place, LongridgeLara Hewitt pictured outside The Palace Cinema on Market Place, Longridge
Lara Hewitt pictured outside The Palace Cinema on Market Place, Longridge

Lara Hewitt, owner of The Palace Cinema in Longridge is saying a sad farewell to her three staff members who will be redundant from August 1.

It is some two and a half years since Lara took on the task of renovating and breathing new life into the cinema. But it has been an ongoing battle to make it pay.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Nevertheless Lara is hopeful that The Palace, now much more than a cinema, will be able to reopen when it is safe to do so, but revealed it will have to be run under a new business model and pay its way.

Lara Hewitt (right)  and Cheryl Fell in the cinema's bar/cafe areaLara Hewitt (right)  and Cheryl Fell in the cinema's bar/cafe area
Lara Hewitt (right) and Cheryl Fell in the cinema's bar/cafe area

On the cinema's Facebook page she noted: " We love our Palace and we know you do too. The one thing we have not yet been successful at is making money. Please don’t mistake me here, when I talk about making money I’m not talking about getting rich, I’m just talking about staying afloat. It was my intention and my hope that by the end of this third year, The Palace would come close to breaking even. At the time of closing we were still losing up to £2,000 per month. "

She continued: "This has not been an easy decision to take and we looked carefully at all available options before coming to this conclusion. When we do reopen we will need your help more than ever before. The Palace is for now still owned by my late father’s company, Parkwood, but because of the pandemic, Parkwood is no longer in a position to financially support us. We no longer have the option of losing money each month. When we reopen, we will either stand or we will fall.

"To reiterate, it had been the plan that this next year we would close the gap financially, after which we would consider transitioning the cinema into being a true community interest company, but only once we knew it could stand on its own feet. Now it will have to stand straight away. We believe that with your support we will do so. We are not giving up, we are not selling the cinema to cover our losses, rather just as you these past few months have stayed in your bubbles to protect yourselves from a life-threatening disease, so we must stay in our bubble a while longer. "

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Lara told the Post: "I think we will have to wait until things are back to normal before we reopen. Then when we re-open it will need to be a bit like starting from scratch again and it will need external funding and we will need volunteers. We'll have to look at costs very carefully ... it's kind of fast forwarded us. When it opens it will be a truly independent cinema. It was but it had help. We'll have to see if it can survive. We'll do all we can to ensure that it does .. .and it will need all the help it can get."

Lara pictured on her tour round Europe in 2019 when making her film "Goodbye Europe"Lara pictured on her tour round Europe in 2019 when making her film "Goodbye Europe"
Lara pictured on her tour round Europe in 2019 when making her film "Goodbye Europe"

Lara noted that the Government has pledged to invest in the arts but predicted that with major national companies, museums and galleries and orchestras all seeking support, help for smaller individual organisations "might not end up being that much."

She pledged that when the time came to reopen she would give it her all "and do it properly".

Meanwhile Lara, who is also a filmmaker is working on three film projects, including a film she is writing with her co-manager Cheryl Fell. First she is completing her film about Brexit entitled Goodbye Europe which she is submitting to film festivals and hopes to make available via Amazon next year. Then she hopes to get Kickstarter funding for a film project "The Palace Diaries" which has developed from a film bout saving a cinema and a romantic comedy into a multilayered script. She is hoping some local residents and members of the Palace's writing group will have roles and said: "We do want to involve the community as much as possible."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The third project will be an English/Italian collaboration which she hopes to co-write.

Lara and cinema dog Bruce, pictured in January 2018, preparing for the cinema's reopeningLara and cinema dog Bruce, pictured in January 2018, preparing for the cinema's reopening
Lara and cinema dog Bruce, pictured in January 2018, preparing for the cinema's reopening

Lara said she would continue at the Palace in an unpaid capacity. The thee co-managers being made redundant are Cheryl Fell, Maria Tomlinson and Patricia Guerra-Ovin.Lara. She said they had all been grateful for the Government's furlough scheme, which had enabled their jobs to continue until the end of the month. Lara said: "We're very proud of what we have done. ... It's a shame. There were some wonderful things set up. We missed people and the relationships and seeing people . But we just have to suck it up. You've done it once...you can do it again. It's like a tsunami destroying a house and (you) build it up again. We will , we have no choice."

* On the Palace's Facebook page Lara recalled the highlights of the past two plus years since reopening: " In those two years that we were open we grew to love The Palace even more and had so many events, moments and encounters we consider successes. We have come to know many of you, your elderly parents and your young children; we have started to know what films you like, which hot drinks you prefer; we’ve celebrated birthdays, engagements and christenings with you. Our staff was made up of warm-hearted, friendly people including several volunteers, be it retired people, young people doing their Duke of Edinburgh or students with special needs."

The Palace gained funding from the region's Film Hub to develop inclusive screenings for people with dementia, autism or hearing impairments. It hosted comedy nights and other live events and forged links with other local businesses. Lara noted: "We’ve thrown our hat in the ring time and time again and tried all kinds of things - spoken word performances for children, writing and book groups, a menopause cafe, a drama club, supper clubs, even a singles club - some of which worked better than others but all we have learnt from and most have been great fun. We love our Palace and we know you do too.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"It’s very clear that were we to reopen in the current Covid climate we would lose more, not less, than we had been doing. So we are just going to have to sit and wait it out. We have time."

Renovation work at The Palace January 2018Renovation work at The Palace January 2018
Renovation work at The Palace January 2018

* The Palace opened in the early part of the 20th century as a music hall and cinema and later became a roller rink and bingo hall before reverting to its cinema role. Today it is not only a cinema but a live arts and community venue with a stage, cafe, meeting room and small exhibition area.