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Prince Charles Cinema listed as asset of community value

Prince Charles Cinema listed as asset of community value

BBC News12-05-2025
One of London's most famous independent cinemas has been listed as an asset of community value (ACV).The Prince Charles Cinema, in Leicester Square, announced the news that Westminster City Council had bestowed the title months after it revealed concerns about its future as a result of its landlord seeking to impose new terms.The cinema's current lease is due to expire in September and the building's owner wants to raise the rent. The listing provides the local community with the right to try to raise funds and bid for the building first if it is put up for sale.The cinema described the recognition as "a huge honour", but added "the fight continues to secure a long term lease".
If a building is listed as an ACV, its owner must notify the council if it is put up for sale. A six-month moratorium on the sale can then be invoked by the local community to give them the chance to raise finance and make a bid to buy it on the open market.However, it does not require a landowner to sell their property to a community group and does not mean a landowner has to continue any existing lease.In a statement about the listing, the cinema said: "Though this recognition is a huge honour, the fight continues to secure a long term lease that will enable us to invest in our future development and continue to bring the best of what we do to Leicester Place."We believe that any truly great venue is built on the shoulders of those who work within and those who support it – and we couldn't have asked for a more passionate and vocal level of support from the many thousands of you who signed the petition, bought tickets, became members or simply just kept coming through our doors."Thank you to every one of you who took a moment to support our cause."
More than 160,000 people have signed a petition to save the venue.Paul Thomas Anderson, the director of Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood and Inherent Vice, has previously spoken up for the Leicester Square cinema, which he described as "like tuning into your favourite radio station".Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs director Quentin Tarantino said it was "everything an independent movie theatre should be", adding that "for lovers of quality films, this is Mecca".The venue, one of the last remaining independent cinemas in central London, has accused the landlord, Zedwell LSQ, of trying to "bully" the business out of the building.Criterion Capital, Zedwell LSQ's parent company, said the terms of a new lease were standard practice and not unreasonable.
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Has Strictly FINALLY lost its sparkle? Bookies slash odds of show being cancelled as fans complain about 'boring' cast and fewer women than men sign up after abuse scandals
Has Strictly FINALLY lost its sparkle? Bookies slash odds of show being cancelled as fans complain about 'boring' cast and fewer women than men sign up after abuse scandals

Daily Mail​

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  • Daily Mail​

Has Strictly FINALLY lost its sparkle? Bookies slash odds of show being cancelled as fans complain about 'boring' cast and fewer women than men sign up after abuse scandals

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I've found a Center Parcs alternative that's cheaper at just £40 a night – it has a farm & looks like a Robin Hood set
I've found a Center Parcs alternative that's cheaper at just £40 a night – it has a farm & looks like a Robin Hood set

The Sun

time28 minutes ago

  • The Sun

I've found a Center Parcs alternative that's cheaper at just £40 a night – it has a farm & looks like a Robin Hood set

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To this, the content creator wrote back and shared: 'It's cheaper than Centre Parcs.' Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme - Sun Club 6 6

Lucina Prestige obituary
Lucina Prestige obituary

The Guardian

time28 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

Lucina Prestige obituary

My sister Lucina Prestige, who has died aged 80, was a founder of Renaissance Press, which published the work of such poets as George Bruce and Alan Spence, with illustrations by Elizabeth Blackadder and John Bellany. Bruce was significant in Lucina's life. The first publication they made together – Lucina as editor – was Pursuit: Poems by George Bruce 1986-98 (1999), winner of the Saltire Society Scottish book of the year. This led to Polygon commissioning Lucina to edit Today Tomorrow: The Collected Poems of George Bruce 1933-2000 (2001), with a preface by Edwin Morgan and illustrated by Bellany. Two limited edition portfolios of Bruce's poems and Bellany's etchings followed: Woman of the North Sea and The Sacred Sea. Born in London, Lucina was the daughter of Frederica Grundy, a radiographer, and Brian Hackett, a landscape architect who played a significant part in the development of the discipline. Her secondary schooling included a spell at Urbana high school, Illinois, when our father was on a two-year sabbatical at the University of Illinois. She studied for a diploma in education at Kenton Lodge College of Education, Newcastle, which was converted into an honours degree by the University of Newcastle. Her first editorial post was at Oriel Press, Newcastle, in 1967, after which she moved to Edinburgh for a senior editorial post at Holmes McDougall in 1970. There she met Martin Prestige, a neuroscientist at Edinburgh University. They married in 1972. While editing Today Tomorrow, Lucina discovered short poems in Bruce's wastepaper basket. She recognised them as haikus. Her instinct as an editor was that they should be published, and she rescued them; further haikus were posted through her letterbox. The resulting publication, Through the Letterbox: Haikus by George Bruce, illustrated by Blackadder (a mutual friend) became the first publication of Renaissance Press in 2003, which Lucina developed into a significant poet- and artist-led publisher. Following Bruce's death in 2002, Lucina and Spence made Thirteen Ways of Looking at Tulips: Haikus, with illustrations by Blackadder (2022). For this last of Lucina's publications, she was also the designer, working closely with the poet and the artist. Renaissance Press's website credits Lucina as a collector and editor, but she was much more than that. Scotland has lost a gifted member of its publishing community; one whose passion was to make beautiful books. Martin died in 1979. Of Lucina's immediate family, I am her only survivor.

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