Oban Phoenix Cinema, a community-owned venue located on the west coast of Scotland, has closed with immediate effect.
The cinema has attributed the closure to a marked decline in audience numbers and revenue stemming from the Covid pandemic, together with rising operating costs due to inflationary pressures. The cinema has ceased trading with immediate effect as of yesterday (June 3), with all eight staff made redundant.
For the Oban community, the nearest open cinemas are some distance away. Fort William’s Highland Cinema is 45 miles away, The Birks Cinema in Aberfeldy is 80 miles and Campbeltown Picture House is 90 miles.
A spokesperson for the Oban Phoenix said: “Unfortunately, numbers have declined even further during the last few months, and it is with great sadness that we have had to close the cinema as it had become insolvent.”
The cinema can trace its roots on the site back to the 1950s, and has been run by different operators through to the Highland Cinema, which closed in 2010. In 2012, following an extensive fund-raising campaign with backing from Judi Dench, the Oban Phoenix emerged, an independent community-owned cinema and registered charity with two screens.
Oban has had a cinema since the 1930s.
Blair Milne and David Meldrum of accountancy firm Azets, who have been appointed joint provisional liquidators, are asking interested parties to reach out in the hope of finding a buyer keen to revive the venue as a cinema.
“Despite the extensive efforts of the board of trustees, many volunteers and supporters, the financial issues affecting Oban Phoenix Cinema caused unsustainable cash flow problems and as such provisional liquidation was the only option,” said Milne.
“We will market the property and assets for sale and try to find a buyer keen to continue operating a cinema on the site. We are hopeful that our urgent call for a buyer will appeal to a variety of interested parties including existing cinema operators, an entrepreneur keen to enter the sector or a larger business willing to invest in an important and valued community asset.”
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