The company behind the ill-fated Catford Mews cinema has withdrawn from a second venue in southeast London – but the Sidcup Storyteller is staying open.
Catford Mews closed in October after Really Local Group (RLG) was thrown out by its landlord, a Lewisham Council company charged with redeveloping the town centre.
The closure led to a public row between the two parties. Lewisham said RLG had run up debts of £650,000, while the cinema operator accused the council of trying to drive it out of business, saying it had to spend its own cash making up for neglect of the Catford Centre, where the cinema was based.
Now the Sidcup Storyteller, which opened in June 2023 as part of a Bexley Council project to rejuvenate the area’s high street, will operate as an independent cinema after the RLG company behind it went into liquidation. Memberships and pricing structures will continue, the company said, and no jobs have been lost.
Bexley Council said it would appoint an operator to take over the cinema.
The announcement, made on Monday evening, came after a finance company sought a winding-up order against Really Local Group (Blockbuster) Ltd. A similar order was sought against the RLG firm running the company’s cinema in Reading, the Biscuit Factory, which has also gone into liquidation.
Rumours had spread about the future of the Sidcup Storyteller over the past week, with neither RLG nor Bexley Council commenting on the situation until Monday.
The Storyteller, the Biscuit Factory, and a third venue in west London, the Ealing Project, will now run as independent entities, the company said. The RLG company that ran the Ealing Project was put into liquidation last October.
RLG said: “This step marks a pivotal moment in securing the future for these beloved spaces, which have become vital hubs for their respective local communities. The decision to restructure follows a difficult period for the business, driven by global challenges that have affected the industry.
“Over the past five years, the group has navigated significant obstacles, including the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to prolonged closures and reduced capacities alongside construction delays at the Reading site, pushing its opening by a year.
“The energy crisis, inflation, and economic uncertainty were compounded by industry-wide impacts on cinemas from the Hollywood writers’ strike. Despite these hurdles, the Really Local Group remains committed to its founding vision, and the restructuring aims to ensure the sustainability and growth of its venues in the long term.”
Benson said: “On behalf of the team at Really Local Group, I’d like to thank our communities for their unwavering support. Challenging times have prompted change, and this restructuring is a positive step towards securing the future of these cherished venues and ensuring they continue to thrive as cultural and community hubs.”
RLG now has just one cinema, Throwley Yard in Sutton, which was opened by the leader of Sutton Council just a month before the company was thrown out of Catford Mews. Throwley Yard said on social media on Monday evening that it was business as usual.
Across the Thames, plans by RLG for a cinema at the Hallsville Quarter development in Canning Town are on hold, with a page describing the development disappearing from the company’s website. A spokesperson said the plans were delayed “while Really Local Group monitors the recovery of the cinema industry”.
The Sidcup Storyteller replaced an old Blockbuster Video store on the high street, and also includes a coffee shop and co-working spaces aimed at the local community and businesses. Last year the building won a Pineapple Award for its contribution to the neighbourhood, and this month it was confirmed as a nominee for a Civic Trust award.
Bexley Council led the development and opened a library on the bottom floor, replacing a 1980s building on nearby Hadlow Road.
The council said on Tuesday: “The London Borough of Bexley has been working hard to ensure the long-term future of the cinema since being made aware of the proposed winding up order on December 23. This has included conversations with the liquidator appointed on 7 January.
“The liquidator has now agreed the voluntary liquidation of the former operator and the council is agreeing a licence to occupy by a successor company. This is enabling all ticket sales and memberships to be honoured as the site trades as normal.
“The council will now move quickly to appoint a new operator for the longer term and will update further as soon as possible. Meanwhile the library will continue to operate on its usual basis.”
The Sidcup project followed a larger scheme in Eltham, where Greenwich Council built a multiplex cinema on the high street, which was opened by Vue in April 2019.
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Updated on Tuesday at 12.50pm to include comment from Bexley Council and confirmation that the company has gone into liquidation, and at 5.05pm with extra information from Really Local Group on jobs and its other sites.
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