St Albans cinema purchase appeal enters final days of fundraising

CINEMA entrepreneur James Hannaway has admitted he has just days now to find the remaining �75,000 he needs to buy the old Odeon building in St Albans. It means that the Alpha Fund as Mr Hannaway has named it stands at �925,000 and is now very close to th

CINEMA entrepreneur James Hannaway has admitted he has just days now to find the remaining �75,000 he needs to buy the old Odeon building in St Albans.

It means that the Alpha Fund as Mr Hannaway has named it stands at �925,000 and is now very close to the �1 million asking price.

If he succeeds in raising the money he wants to turn it into a similar cinema to The Rex in Berkhamsted which he has also restored. Mr Hannaway is still very optimistic about securing the art deco building in London Road despite overrunning the deadline for exchange of contracts on the building by six weeks so far.

Although he refused to be drawn on how long he had been given by the site's owners he said: "It is just days away so if anyone is thinking of contributing towards making the cinema happen, now's the time to do it."

In addition he pledged The Rex would be putting in �30,000 of its "rainy day cash" once the cinema fund came near to its target.

The Odeon site is once more up for sale complete with planning permission for 14 luxury flats and an underground car park so there's a race against time to raise the remainder of the money.

Cheques should be made payable to The Alpha St Albans Limited and psoted to to The Alpha St Albans, The Rex Cinema, High Street, Berkhamsted HP4 2FG.