Catford cinema’s return delayed as no lease has been signed

No lease has been signed for return of a cinema to Catford – seven months after Lewisham Council announced an independent operator would be taking over the site.

Castle Cinema was identified as the new operator of the old Catford Mews site in February, less than three months before the council elections.

But while negotiations with Castle are continuing, Lewisham’s Green council has blamed the previous Labour administration for announcing the news before a final deal had been agreed.

The revelation comes nearly two years after Catford Mews closed following a row between the council and Really Local Group, which had operated the cinema in the shopping centre since it opened in 2019. Really Local was evicted after building up rent arrears, and was later put into liquidation. 

Daniel Dream, Lewisham’s cabinet member for inclusive regeneration and planning, said in a written reply before a council meeting on Wednesday that the “previous administration made a public announcement of the cinema’s opening on the basis of a heads of terms, a preliminary, non-binding document that sets out the broad commercial terms both parties intend to work towards, before the actual lease had been negotiated or signed”. 

He added: “This was not a decision that demonstrated an awareness of business or the needs of the community.” 

Dream was challenged on his response by Labour councillor Peter Bernards, who said: “This administration has now been in place since May, and I think it is time to take responsibility. People in Catford want to be able to use their cinema, not hear excuses.”

But Dream replied: “The cinema operator should not be announced until a lease is in place. I don’t know if you’re suggesting that the council are proactively delaying the signing of a lease, which is not the case. Labour were not involved in the choosing of Castle. It was first presented to my predecessor once the heads of terms were already in place. 

“His initial response was to want to release a social media video. He had a habit for this, and he was advised that it wouldn’t be wise for negotiations on the lease. That underlies the whole delay with the cinema. 

“We know that Castle are recruiting, but we’ve never given a date. Until the lease is in place, it wouldn’t be responsible to do so.”

Castle, began life in Hackney in 2015, is expected to operate the three screens and bar, as well as the food court at the front of the building, which will be renamed Castle Catford. It also took over another former Really Local cinema, the Sidcup Storyteller, in December last year, after signing a deal with Bexley Council.

Lewisham Council’s original plan was to use the former Poundland store as a cinema while a scheme to demolish and redevelop the Catford shopping centre was worked up. 

But those plans stalled, and earlier this month the Greens announced they planned to keep and refurbish the old centre, along with housing at Milford Towers, which had also been due for demolition.  Plans to reroute the South Circular Road to create a new public space outside the Broadway Theatre were also scrapped after government funding was withdrawn.

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