Kentish Express Ashford & District
Operator of new cinema wants an alcohol licence
A cinema company wants a licence to sell alcohol to film lovers despite the fact that building work on the complex hasn’t even started yet.
Picturehouse Cinema, a subsidiary of Cineworld, will be running the eight-screen multiplex which will be built at Elwick Place.
The £75 million scheme will also include a 60-bedroom hotel and eight restaurants and is a key part of the council’s plan to regenerate the town centre as part of the so called Big Eight projects in the borough.
It was granted planning permission at the end of 2015, and then in November last year the council announced that all the commercial agreements were in place.
Speaking then Ashford Borough Council leader Gerry Clarkson said: “It is pleasing to announce another significant development on one of our major regeneration projects.
“The impressive new Ashford College now stands watch over an area of the town that will see the development of brownfield sites at Elwick Place, the Commercial Quarter and Victoria Way.
The council has invested in the scheme and will earn a rental income from Picturehouse Cin- ema as part of a plan for the authority to wean itself off central government funding by the end of 2019.
Now the company has applied for a premises licence to supply alcohol and late night refreshments between 8am and midnight every day, and to be allowed to show plays, films, live music and recorded music between 8am and 1am every day.
Enabling works are expected to start in the next few weeks.