I think it is time for an update on the Regal Cinema Saga
In recent weeks, it has been reported in the local press of the trials and tribulations of Oswestry’s only cinema, until recently run from 9 Arthur Street in Oswestry.
There was yet another ego driven Motion by Councillor Duncan Kerr wanting to spend even more of the Morrison’s windfall on buying the old Regal cinema in Leg Street and converting it back to the cinema of its “glory days” of yesteryear.
The way Duncan is spending it, there cannot be a lot of money left. But you can always rely on the Green Party to spend other people’s money, seemingly unaware of the consequence.
Our story begins back in 2009 When the company was first incorporated, its address at the time was in Llanfyllin. A small town over the border in Wales.
The directors of the company were Ian Garland, Jenifer Trythall and Ruth Carter. Ruth Carter resigned in the same year leaving Garland and Trythall as the sole directors, although I am told that Ruth was still involved.
The company was registered as Kinokriminalitat Ltd, strange name, almost Teutonic, and what does it have to do with Kinokulture the cinema? There is a simple explanation really; Kinokriminalitat Ltd was the company name and Kinokulture was its trading name, simple, why two company names? Who knows? And like a lot of things Teutonic difficult to pronounce. (for me anyway)
Total assets in their first set of accounts was £143 – still, out of little acorns etc.
It was in 2011 that the company applied for a grant from the Market Towns Revitalisation Programme (MTRP), the infamous organisation of Legacy Grant fame.
MTRP an acronym guaranteed to make Shropshire Council officers, past and present, pale of face and to grimace like constipated rabbits.
A report prepared by Glenys Davies the Facilities Manager for the Finance and General Purposes Committee of Oswestry Town Council (OTC) to consider the funding bid by Kinokulture:
Kinokulture is the trading name of KINOKRIMINALITAT CIC.
Council Members voted in favour of the grant. Thankfully, this time they managed to steer clear of State Aid Regulations unlike previous dips into the financial pockets of Shropshire Council.
Note the clever interchange of company names from Kinokriminalitat Ltd to Kinokulture; well, would you give funding to a company whose name you couldn’t even pronounce?
Little was known about the company in its early days other than it occasionally used the Attfield Theatre situated in the Guildhall to provide film nights.
But there was a fly in the proverbial; Kinokulture wanted to show the latest films, and these films were no longer available in 35mm film. Also, it would seem logical to want their own cinema.
And so, a move from the Attfield Theatre to No 9 Arthur Street was engineered. Hence an MTRP grant, try that one now and you will send council officers putting their collective heads under the blanket until the nasty ghost of Christmas legacy past has passed by.
Kinokulture had to go digital. Or Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI) compliant projection equipment to give it its proper name, and this cost money. Enter MTRP with £2.5 million sloshing around in their trousers. And we all know from experience that if you give money to the Council, it is like giving them new laws, they will spend it, mostly unwisely.
The project, backed by approximately £50,000 of public funds, was scheduled for completion in 2012. Fast forward to 25th April 2015, and KINOKRIMINALITAT Ltd morphed into KINOKRIMINALITAT CIC (Community Interest Company)—a quicker route than becoming a charity, and less scrutiny.
And all went well until the dreaded Covid reared its ugly head.
The plot thickens when KINOKRIMINALITAT CIC recently encountered trouble with their landlord, The United Reformed Church (West Midlands) Trust Ltd and had to vacate the premises.
This prompted the next mystery: what happened to the £50,000 worth of equipment owned by Oswestry Town Council? No one seems to know, or they’re not saying.
Extracting information from Oswestry Town Council is a Herculean task at the best of times, but on this matter, they are even more tight-lipped.
Strange, that before they gained control of the Council, they made such a fuss about transparency or the lack of it. Still hypocrisy was never their strongpoint.
Anyway I digress.
It was, apparently, discussed at the recent Council meeting of 11th September 2024; but behind closed doors with the press and public excluded (again). No surprise there then.
And never forget, a condition of the MTRP Grant was conditional on the ownership of the equipment remaining with Oswestry Town Council, although mysteriously the equipment has yet to appear on its Asset Register.
The plot thickens when we find out that KINOKRIMINALITAT CIC is still an active company, having filed new accounts on 4th April 2024 at a time when they did not have any premises, have Creditors to the tune of £11,646, and no obvious income. And surprisingly a new company was incorporated on 11th December 2023, KINOKRIMINALITAT Ltd, but they have yet to appoint any directors, enquiries with Companies House show only a link to the Financial Conduct Authority; what is going on?
Follow the link and we find however, that the company has been registered with the Financial Conduct Authority as a Community Benefit Society with a different company number to KINOKRIMINALITAT CIC. One prerequisite of such a society is having at least three founder members, thus the arrival of Councillor Alison Layland, a Weston Rhyn parish councillor and erstwhile member of Extinction Rebellion (XR).
Well at least they won’t be troubled with protests by Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil.
So, we now have a CIC company that has no premises, no income and Creditors to the tune of £11,646. We also have a new Community Benefit Society company that on the face of it seems identical to the previous company. Are you with me so far? Come on keep up, it’s simple really; isn’t it?
Then the pièce de résistance: on 15th May 2024 meeting of Oswestry Town Council, Councillor Duncan Kerr proposed a Notice of Motion, which reads as follows:
“I am sure that Members will join me in thanking Ruth and Ian for their years of dedication and commitment over the last decade and equally wish the film club well in showing classic films at various venues around town. The benefits of a cinema are well understood by Shropshire Council, who are planning to build a brand new cinema as part of their Shrewsbury shopping centre refurbishments using money provided by the government from levelling-up programmes. It is extremely disappointing, and a contradiction to the aims of this programme, to see money used to increase provision in an affluent town that already has several film venues, in preference to provision in the more economically deprived second-largest town in the County. Recognising that the Council still has the legacy of a windfall capital receipt and has determined that this should be used to revitalise the town centre economy, it is moved that the Council instruct the Clerk to commence negotiations with the owners of the Regal to acquire the freehold of the building so that the Council can then work with operators to re-establish it as a multiscreen cinema. This may mean a readjustment of work programmes to free up resources.”
“Economically deprived”? Makes our beautiful town sound like The Seventh Ward, New Orleans, for those of my friends that don’t know, Seventh Ward is probably the most dangerous place to live or visit in the city. But Oswestry being described as “Economically Deprived” is an insult.
And low and behold the Motion presented by that de facto leader of the Green Party, and stalwart of that well known guide known as “How to spend other peoples’ money”, Duncan Kerr, was debated by the Council – in private of course.
OTC/04/24
Council in Private Session
80. Cinema Options and Kinokulture Projector
Council considered report TC/4300/24 from the Town Clerk which
provided an update on bringing a cinema to the town, also setting out an
overview of the projector used to show productions at Kinokulture.
Council also considered Appendix U; a proposal received from Maona
Art.
It was resolved to note the Council’s support to progress the feasibility
of bringing a cinema to the former Regal building and to progress
accordingly.
It was further resolved that the Town Clerk would write to Kinokulture
regarding the projector.
Don’t you just love the last line of the agenda “It was further resolved that the Town Clerk would write to Kinokulture regarding the projector”
And so, a piece of equipment purchased for about £50,000 using an MTRP grant on condition that ownership was retained by Oswestry Town Council, was not put on the Asset Register; and they’ve lost it. I think that’s a fair summary.
And so let us dig a little deeper.
This opaque Green dominated council want to buy the old Regal cinema and so the Town Clerk was despatched post haste to explore the project and report back.
One of the proposals was from a company called Maona Art who specialise in producing and showing African films. The director of Maona Art Ltd is Tatenda Francis Jamera who styles himself as a film director specialising in African films. That should put bums on seats in Oswestry.
An active little devil is our Tatenda; he’s a director of 9 companies and I Dissolved company. 5 of his company’s are classed as non-trading. The only company that has been trading for any significant length of time is Jam – Era Creations Ltd, and it has entered what one might call an extended period of fiscal turbulence for the last 4 years.
Coincidence or conspiracy? Who knows? Well, let’s make a guess and take a peek into the future.
Maona Art Ltd is found to be an unsuitable applicant for the cinema, leaving the Council no “alternative” but to turn to, surprise, surprise, Mr Ian Garland who will of course run the new Regal Cinema and bought with tax-payers money.
The cinema, that prior to its closure in 1994 had to close its doors for the final time. Why? Because it was uneconomic to continue.
And don’t forget this was before the time of Netflix, Amazon, Disney, and Apple et al and streaming everything imaginable through your widescreen tv.
I don’t think this will end well with this Council’s seemingly boundless talent for financial mismanagement.
How long will Councillor Kerr’s magical money tree last? Not long at this rate.
The Alternative Council 