Sir Roger Moore joins petition to save Odeon cinema in Chester

Movie lovers will be turning out in force tonight to show their support for a campaign to save Chester's Odeon Cinema - reports the Evening Leader.

Hundreds of seats are to be made made available at a public meeting organised by Chester MP Christine Russell and supporters of a campaign to reinstate film facilities in the city centre.

The Odeon Cinema, now owned by South Yorkshire nightclub specialist the Brook Group, has closed after 70 years of hosting film showings in Hunter Street, but campaigners are still pressing for the movie house to reopen in one form of arts centre or another.

The building off Town Hall Square now lies empty and no planning application for its future use has yet been put forward.

Mrs Russell, backed by Chester Civic Trust and a host of other groups and individuals, has fought a long non-political campaign to keep the Odeon alive. She has been bolstered by successful initiatives in other parts of the country, including York and London, where closed Odeon cinemas have reopened.

Legendary James Bond star, Sir Roger Moore, is the latest person to join a petition to save the Odeon.

Sir Roger, who lived in Chester for a short time during the Second World War, said: "When I was sent to join my mother in Chester during the height of the London Blitz, I continued my romance with cinema and Hollywood at the Chester Odeon.

"I love cinemas, particularly the wonderful Art Deco Odeons. To think the one in Chester might
forever be lost to a nightclub or other such venue saddens me greatly and I wholeheartedly lend my support to the campaign to save it."

Sir Gerald Kaufman, a movie buff and MP for Manchester Gorton, is the special guest at the meeting at 7pm today at St Mary's Centre, off Castle Hill, by County Hall.

Sir Gerald is the House of Commons' foremost film buff who has written a personal memoir of his life-long interest in the movies from his boyhood in Leeds entitled My Life in the Silver Screens.

He is a former chairman of Select Committees on National Heritage, and Culture, Media and Sports. He and Mrs Russell are bother keen supporters of the All Party Film Group in Parliament.

The city council has paid for the hire of St Mary's Centre, as the Town Hall was not available because of counting for the Cheshire County Council Gowy by-election. Parking will be available at Castle Square.

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