Cinema agrees move to town centre
THE FIRM behind the plans to build a multi-screen cinema in the town centre has been bought out.
But bosses at Ask Real Estate say the scheme will still go ahead and that terms have now been agreed to bring the new leisure facility to the town centre.
A controlling interest in the company, which is behind the £15million scheme planned for Churchill Way car park, has been bought up by Richardson family, who run Midlands property firm Dukehill.
Former owner Carillion has signed a £14million deal to sell its majority share to the The Richardson property empire which was founded in the 1970s by twins Roy and Don Richardson.
The firm issued a state- ment addressing the future of the town centre scheme after being contacted by the Express.
John Hughes, managing director of Ask Real Estate, said: “This investment secures the future of Ask Real Estate in the long term, as its development portfolio continues to grow with the delivery of major projects including Embankment, Manchester Central, Gateshead Quays and Macclesfield Town Centre.”
The cinema forms a key part of the council’s fiveyear vision for Macclesfield. An update from Leon Guyett, of Ask Real Estate, was read at a meeting organised by Make it Macclesfield (MiM) discussing the scheme.
It said: “It is fair to say we are a little behind schedule with our proposals which has been due to a number of factors and I appreciate it may look like nothing has been going on.
“Rest assured there has been lots of work in the background with site surveys, car park studies, highway analysis and extensive negotiations with the cinema market.
“We have agreed terms with a cinema and lawyers are pressing ahead with the legal contracts.
“We’ve also been pressing ahead with the design and are targeting a public consultation in December with a view to submitting an application in January.”
A Cheshire East Council spokesman said: “The council is aware of the recent change in ownership of Ask Real Estate.
“The council has received positive indications that this will not impact on the current proposals by Ask Real Estate for the Churchill Way development in Macclesfield.
“The new investment in Ask Real Estate by the West Midlands’ based Richardson family, is seen as a vote of confidence in the property company. Ask Real Estate’s imaginative plans are to purchase Macclesfield’s Churchill Way car park and develop a sixscreen cinema, restaurants and retail units with quality public realm.”
But some people spoke out against the cinema plan at the meeting.
Jeff Coghlan, founder of gaming firm Matmi, met applause when he said: “Who thinks a cinema is going to sort Macclesfield out?
“The majority doesn’t think a cinema matters.”
Rhiannon Raftery, from MiM, said: “We don’t particularly like the cinema either but we won’t bring that argument up here.”