A major milestone towards a cinema in Acton High Street has been passed.
Ealing Council planners have given the go-ahead for the community-inspired idea the Acton Arts Group has fought more than three years for.
Hundreds of residents, businesses and the Council Itself combined to raise £115k to get the plan for a two-screen cinema and cafe-bar onto the drawing board and towards reality. The plan aims to save the classic Grade Two-listed Old Library building and kick-start a regeneration of the High Street.
It's taken close to £30k so far for a team of surveyors, cinema designers, architects, acoustics experts and heritage advisors to come up with the winning plan, which also makes provision for a much-needed school on the upper floors for children with a diagnosis of autism.
The big challenge now is navigating the course of Covid. The pandemic has severely resticted arts venues. The cinema's financial backers and the Council see it as a long-term winner. But between them they have to find ways of seeing a big investment through the restrictions period without unsustainable losses.
Thanks to the enthusiastic support of residents the cinema project has won every battle faced so far. There's no doubt Corona is the biggest yet.