The credits could soon be rolling for the end of Tenby cinema. Manager of the Royal Playhouse in the town's White Lion Street, Stephen Williams, says, despite a front page article in the Observer recently when he urged local people to 'use it or lose it', the facility's days now look numbered. Mr. Williams has been doing his best to pull in film buffs. Improvements have been made to the sound system, the screen has been cleaned, the heating fixed, and just last week, he painted the balcony to give the flicks a fresh new look.
However, after one of the latest Hollywood Blockbusters failed to draw in bums on seats, it now looks like the curtain could fall on the establishment. Mr. Williams, who took over running the cinema five years ago when it was feared that it would shut because the then manager, Mr. John Hill, had to retire due to ill health and there was no-one to take over, was particularly disappointed with the attendance at last week's film Stardust. Said Mr. Williams: "Not only was it probably one of the best films that I have shown in Tenby cinema over the past four years, it was a Hollywood movie which was partly filmed in Tenby and, despite doing well all over the country, it totally flopped in Tenby. "I fear the days of the Royal Playhouse are numbered as it would appear, I am flogging a dead horse." Mr. Williams also runs Yes Limos and is operating the cinema so that Tenby has some form of entertainment for the locals and visitors, and he says he doesn't want to have to travel to see the latest films himself. "The cinema's in my blood," he said. "I really don't want Tenby to lose it, but I fear the worst." Feedback from our recent story regarding admission prices has also angered Mr. Williams. "A number of people have come up to me and said that the price of £5 was a bit expensive," he said. "Five pounds is the average price for cinemas showing the latest films, but we do not charge £5 admission, we only charge £4, plus £1 pre- purchase of sweets." Mr. Williams explained: "This was introduced to counteract problems of people bringing their own sweets into the cinema and leaving their rubbish on the floor for the staff to pick up. I wonder if those same people went into a pub and took their own beer or took their own food into a restaurant, would be amazed if the proprietor did not object.
"The sale of sweets is a major part of the income of the cinema because the film distributors expect the cinema to generate a substantial percentage of its income for the sale of sweets, drinks and popcorn, hence the high cost of film rental. "Tenby cinema has always struggled with this part of its income because it has a sweet shop next door but one, and it was always difficult to sell the sweet and drink stock before it went out of date. However, since the £1 charge has been introduced, we have been able to offer a far better selection of sweets and we even now have a fridge full of cold drinks which we were unable to offer before.
"The sweet prices are on par with the local sweet shop, but far less than the charge made at the big multi-complex cinemas, where to my mind, they are over-charging excessively, but because it is a big company, people pay without complaint."