Transformation of old bank into Cinema and Arts Centre begins in Southsea

The Portsmouth Film Society has begun the development that will bring a new cultural hub to Palmerston Road.

The volunteer-run organisation has been providing Portsmouth with film screenings and events for over a decade but will soon have a permanent base in the old Halifax bank in Southsea, something the organisers have been hoping to open for years.

Although Portsmouth already has a cinema in Gunwharf, the society feels that there is a gap in the local market for screenings of the more niche independent and international films that they intend to show.

“It’s an alternative to the mainstream content that the multiplexes like Vue offer,” said Miles Hanmore, a PFS trustee. “The schedule there is often dominated by Hollywood action films and, although there is nothing wrong with that sort of ‘junk food cinema’, we think people should have access to more types of film.”

The society says there has been overwhelming support and engagement on social media and the crowdfunding site for the refurbishment has raised £9,270 of the £10,000 goal.

Miles continued: “It goes beyond just a cinema, it’s also an arts centre. That sort of hybrid venue of art forms isn’t something that Southsea has at the moment. And we’ve found a great location in a commercial area that lots of people will see as they walk through town.”

The centre will be open at Easter, and will continue the guest speaker panels, quiz nights, education programs, Q&A sessions, talks, and courses that the film society already run, with classrooms, a dance studio, a café area housed alongside the screening room at the venue.