After a nine-month campaign by locals to raise £450,000, Hundreds of individual donors contributed to surge past the goal in the final days, with £532,884 being raised by the 8 May deadline.

In a twist worthy of Hollywood itself, a mystery backer stepped in to purchase the building and has agreed a 101-year lease with the fundraisers, Woolton Cinema Community Interest Company, at a peppercorn rent of £19.27 per year. The rent is a nod to the original opening date of the cinema, Boxing Day 1927, and the lease means that it will still be a cinema on its 200th anniversary in 2127.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this campaign and donated so far. A second phase of fundraising for these ambitious plans will begin in autumn, along with community consultation events to decide on how the building can be refurbished while keeping its classic 1920s look and feel.

Donate here

So, what’s next?

For the rest of this year, we will be screening films on the last weekend of each month (buy tickets here!) and using the time between showings to make some repairs and improvements to the building.

At the same time, we will be applying for funding for a large scale refurbishment of the place which will keep the 1927 style but introduce more modern facilities.

Between now and our Christmas films we plan to:

● Create a new bar, merchandise stall and ice-cream stall

● Tidy up and Improve the look of the front of the building, including new poster boards

● Replace any rotten floor in the auditorium

● Replace the fire doors

● Construct a new flat floor area in front of the screen

● Replace or repair the lobby / auditorium arched entrance door

● Construct a new ladies toilet accessed from the auditorium

● Refurbish the existing ladies and gents toilets

● Convert the existing lobby toilet into a fully accessible WC and baby change area

● New raised tarmac area with markings to provide wheelchair access to the rear fire door

● Repair the existing front steps

● Investigate potential improvements to areas of damp on the front facade

● Repair roof with new flashing and a new gutter

● Install a new fire alarm system

● Fit new external lighting around the rear fire escapes.

Public Consultation

We will be holding some public consultation events in July and August to share our short, medium and long term plans.

Join our email newsletter to hear about the upcoming public consultations to share ideas for the next phase of the project and how we make Woolton Picture House a place for everyone in the village.

You can also keep up to date with all Woolton Picture House news and events on our social media channels:

Plaque commemorating the Picture House, the oldest surviving cinema in Liverpool, opened on December 26, 1927, in association with the British Film Institute.
View of the auditorium seating from the projection window. Rows of empty seats in front of closed curtains.
Old industrial coffee roaster in a room with blue and orange brick walls, with electrical equipment and a large blue tarp covering part of the scene.
A large metal wheel with six holes, attached to a metal shaft, inside an old, dusty workshop with mechanical and electrical tools around.
View of a small cinema ticket booth with a wooden counter, cash register, and a small display refrigerator, surrounded by popcorn and soda advertisements.
A welcome sign for Woolton Picture House, established in 1927, with a bulletin board below advertising the Dicks Sound Theatre features.
A framed sign with general information printed on an aged, distressed paper, indicating schedules for Sundays, weekdays, and Saturday matinees, with additional notes about school holiday matinees and programming.
Large, old red auditorium doors closed inside the cinema foyer. A selection of old framed photographs adorn the walls.
Rows of empty orange upholstered cinema seats inside the old auditorium.