Ultimate Picture Palace: Oxford's oldest cinema could be bought by community

Film lovers will have the chance to buy shares in Oxford's oldest and only independent cinema as part of a plan to run it as a community asset.

The Ultimate Picture Palace in Oxford first opened in 1911 and is up for sale after its last owner died in 2018.

About 312,000 community shares will be up for sale from 29 April over nine weeks for the Jeune Street cinema.

Its executive director said it is the latest in a series of challenges it has faced over 111 years.

"It's always been the local film lovers of East Oxford that have saved the cinema in that time so we want to make sure that the cinema stays as a cinema and stays independent," Micaela Tuckwell said.

"If we sold it on the open market we wouldn't know if that would happen so this is a way of securing its future."

Typically investors will need to pay for at least 50 shares, with each costing £1, to become a shareholder.

But a discounted minimum buy-in of 30 shares will be available for potential shareholders aged between 16 and 29 who have an OX1, OX2 or OX4 postcode.

Vez Hoper, the campaign manager for Own the UPP, said: "To lose the UPP would be like losing a very big part of the soul of Cowley Road and what makes it special to live in Oxford.

"It's things like that UPP that kind of make up - not entirely - for the huge cost of living in Oxford.

"You've got places like this that are just so special. If it wasn't there it would just feel like any other place."

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