Woolton Community Launch Campaign to Save Historic Picture House
Local residents rally to raise £700,000 to save Liverpool's oldest cinema and return it to the heart of the community.
Liverpool's oldest cinema, the much-loved Woolton Picture House, is on the brink of a new chapter - and the community is being invited to play a starring role in bringing it back to life.
Local entrepreneurs and long-time Woolton residents Kevin Fearon and Gillian Miller - best known for transforming Liverpool's Royal Court Theatre into one of the city's most successful cultural venues - have launched a major fundraising campaign to restore and reopen the Woolton Picture House as a community-owned arts hub.
The campaign, themed 'It Takes a Village to Open a Cinema', aims to raise £700,000 by April 2026 - £450,000 to purchase the historic building and a further £250,000 to carry out essential refurbishments.
Built in 1927, Woolton Picture House is Liverpool's only remaining single-screen cinema and a much-loved local landmark. For nearly a century, it has served as a space for film, connection and community - from its early Path newsreels during World War II to its red-carpet film premieres and recent appearances in Nowhere Boy, the biopic of John Lennon.
Now, after several years of closure and uncertainty, the goal is to return the building to the people of Woolton - as a place not only for cinema, but also for live music, theatre, community meetings and local arts events.
Gillian Miller said “For almost a century, Woolton Picture House has been a place where people came together to laugh, cry and share stories. We don't just want to reopen a cinema - we want to rebuild a space that belongs to everyone. This project isn't about nostalgia; it's about creating a home for creativity and connection for the next hundred years. But we can't do it alone - it really will take a village to open this cinema."
With its 98th anniversary approaching this December, the campaign hopes to rally support from locals, film lovers, and Liverpudlians everywhere to secure the cinema's future in time for its centenary year.
