A town centre bingo hall is set to get a new lease of life when it is transformed back into a cinema.
The Maxime, which is currently a Top Ten bingo hall, on High Street has been sold to company Picturedrome Cinemas, based in Bognor Regis.
Croespenmaen firm Four Seasons Entertainment, which programs around 145 cinema screens across the UK, negotiated the deal on behalf of the English company and is hopeful the hall will be reopened as a cinema by April or May next year.
The building is due to close as a bingo hall on October 14, at which point architects will begin drawing up plans ready for submission to the council.
Steve Reynolds, the owner of Four Seasons Entertainment, said: “The fact of the matter is that Blackwood deserves a cinema and doesn’t currently have one.
“We had applied on behalf of other clients a few years back but the developer involved wasn’t interested. Ever since then we have looked around and when the Maxime came around we saw it as an ideal opportunity.”
Mr Reynolds said the cost of turning the building into a four screen multiplex would be around £750,000 and that the finished article would have a total capacity of around 800 seats.
He added: “I think it will be great for Blackwood. This could add in excess of 3,000 people a week to the footfall of the town. It’s going to be good for businesses in the town centre.”
The cinema plan has been welcomed by local councillors.
Blackwood Town Councillor Andrew Farina-Childs, said: “It is something that has been sadly missing from Blackwood for many years.
“It will be a fabulous addition to an already thriving town and will hopefully generate more interest long-term.”
Cllr Nigel Dix, who sits on Caerphilly County Borough Council, added: “This is excellent news and a massive vote of confidence in our town. It is not often that bingo halls, which were originally cinemas, are converted back into a cinema.
“This decision highlights the huge potential that exists in Blackwood.”
What on Earth is the point in this when there is a 5 screen cinema coming to Bargoed?, have they not already got a cinema in the institute, why doe Blackwood have to compete with Bargoed when Bargoed needs a regeneration?
Doesn't Blackwood get enough? This means that the cinema in Blackwood will now attract people there and away from Bargoed again, when the whole point was to bring more people into Bargoed, I'm OK with it but I don't really see the point!
Blackwood gets nothing!!! We are only get this thanks to Steve Reynolds, picturedrome and Blackwood town council. Bargoed have had 90 million spent on them whilst from Blackwood to risca gets nothing at all. Caerphilly cbc has got no interest in Blackwood that is why individuals have had to ensure this cinema for the general public. The old Sommerfield store been empty for years but they got no interest in the place. Bargoed is too far for young, old and disabled unless you live in Bargoed.
There is no cinema in the study in Blackwood.
It should say stute.