Why Woolton Picture House?

One October evening 2024 Kevin Fearon and Gillian Miller were walking back home from a lovely evening in the Pickled Olive. They walked up Mason Street which they had done many times but on this night, with the full moon, the Picture House sparkled. At that moment they both said ‘it’s a shame, wouldn’t it be great if it was open?’. A few days later, after some research at Companies House and the Land Registry they eventually made contact with the owner.

When he bought it, he wanted to run it as a cinema, but that isn’t what he does, and for a number of reasons he was thinking about the next part of the Picture House’s story.

So when Kevin and Gillian made contact there was a sense of good timing, fate. The owner wanted to pass it on to the right people, not someone who promises to reopen the building but not far down the line develops it for a profit.

He was persuaded by the argument that the Picture House should not be in private hands. That it should be an asset held and managed by and for the community. For the people of Woolton, and maybe a bit further afield.

So it was agreed that solicitors would be instructed for the sale of the cinema. The owner also passed on £25,000 which had been raised from the public via GoFundMe as the first donation to the new CIC.

To ensure transparency for the future and to give the owner comfort that he was making the right decision, Kevin and Gillian formed Woolton CIC (Community Interest Company) on 11 February 2025. A bank account with Bank of Scotland was opened and Kevin and Gillian deposited £25,000 in the account. This money is a non-interest bearing loan, repayable when all funds required to buy and reopen the cinema have been raised.