The Really Local Group (RLG)’s Preston Benson has called on UK industry bodies the UK Cinema Association (UKCA) and the British Film Institute (BFI) to provide greater support for independent cinemas, nearly two weeks after the local council closed the RLG-operated two-screen Catford Mews site in south London, citing non-payment of rent.
“We need the UKCA and the BFI to properly engage and help independent cinemas navigate this new world,” said Benson, founder of RLG.
Benson suggested the organisations should lead discussions on issues including lengthening the theatrical window, providing flexibility within the “all dates/all show” regime which can be crippling for a venue of four screens or less, and providing marketing support for smaller and indie releases.
“Whilst commercial releases will always dominate, our audiences want to see a wider range of films which [they] don’t know about unless they’re in a very specific awards window,” said Benson.
RLG, founded in 2019 by Benson with a mission to regenerate UK high streets with mixed cultural venues offering live performances, food and drink, and cinema programming, also operates the Reading Biscuit Factory, Ealing Project, Sidcup Storyteller and Throwley Yard Sutton as cinema venues.
Catford Mews was closed by Lewisham Council on October 29 claiming RLG had run up arrears of over £650,000 since 2019 and accused it of failing to pay its bills.
In a statement, Lewisham Council declared: “The council, or CRPL [Catford Regeneration Partnership Limited], simply cannot afford to prop up a private commercial organisation to this scale. It isn’t fair to local businesses who pay their rent and service charges, and it isn’t fair to Lewisham Council taxpayers.”
It also cited two other venues run by RLG, Peckham Levels and Ealing Project, which had entered administration in the last three months. RLG’s spokesperson confirmed although this is true, Ealing Project is still operational and “doing good trade… the landlords have been extremely supportive”.
RLG issued a strongly worded response that accused the council’s statement of being “defamatory” and placed the responsibility for the cinema’s closure on the council itself. It leaves Lewisham as the only borough in London without a cinema.
Catford Mews
The Catford Mews site, which is situated in the Catford Centre shopping complex, first launched in 2019, shut down during the pandemic and reopened its doors in late 2021.
Under the terms of its lease, RLG was expected to take care of the maintenance and upkeep of the internal structure of the cinema venue. However, RLG claims that CRPL, which is wholly owned by the council, had failed to discharge its responsibilities for providing security and for the upkeep of the roof.
The Group has also questioned the amount of arrears it is said to have run up. In its statement, RLG said it has made significant investments of its own to “prop up the Catford Centre”, and accused the council of delaying repairs for which it was responsible.
“Over the past five years we have been forced to pour hundreds of thousands of pounds into the Catford Centre for maintenance, upkeep and security,” RLG claimed.
“Our staff have endured dozens of frightening/xenophobic incidents from a very small minority. When they called upon Catford Centre security, they were repeatedly told that Centre management was not able to intervene, leaving them in an unsafe situation,” RLG alleged.
“To date, Catford Mews has spent more than £1.4m to set up the site and incurred losses of £930,000 through Covid, film release disruptions, energy costs spiking and the recent Hollywood strikes,” RLG explained further. “We could have walked away a long time ago but chose not to as we were committed to putting the community and the wider Catford Centre regeneration first.”
When contacted by Screen, Lewisham Council declined to make any further comment or respond to rumours that it has reached a deal with Arc Cinemas to open a new venue in the Lewisham Shopping Centre.
RLG’s spokesperson suggested other cinema companies would now be wary about operating in the borough: “The cinema exhibitor community is very tight-knit. I can’t imagine how any other operator would look at the situation and how the council has treated Really Local Group and think, ‘that is a place I want to operate’.”
Despite its threat of legal action, RLG is making overtures to the council to reopen Catford Mews and has also launched a Save Catford Mews petition which has secured around 9,190 signatures so far.
The closure of Catford Mews came just two weeks before the record-breaking UK release of Paddington In Peru. Forthcoming releases expected to attract good audiences include Gladiator II, Wicked, and Moana 2.
“The level of support, the depth of feeling, tells us that what we are doing at Really Local Group is right and that we have created something special,” said the spokesperson. “Our business model is the right one. All we need now is regular films.”
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