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The last picture show
Nov 7 2002
By Tony Deeley, Evening Mail
Disgruntled cinema boss Paul Jervis is turning his back on the region.
As people greet the arrival of the long-overdue redevelopment in West Bromwich, the Sutton Coldfield movie man is closing the curtains at the town's Kings Cinema.
His decision to sell the two-screen cinema - the only one in Sandwell - follows the forced closure of the building through landscaping work on West Bromwich's new bus station and ring road network.
Mr Jervis said the work and the removal of car parking spaces had ruined trade. With punters flocking to the new multi-screen Showcase Cinema in Dudley he saw no future.
Closure of the Kings with the loss of 15 jobs ends a 47-year-association with the town for his family, who built the cinema in 1975 and previously owned the former Kings, Queens and Imperial cinemas.
Developments including a £38 million c/Plex arts centre, a £15 million shop and leisure complex and a new multi-million pound Tesco store are soon to breathe new life into the town.
Mr Jervis, aged 39, who has a new multi-screen cinema in Lytham St Annes, said: "We have had two years of work outside and still have only minimal access to the building and no parking facilities.
"With barriers completely surrounding the building people just assumed we were closed. It cut our trade by 75 per cent overnight.
"We were told by Centro the work would be all completed by Christmas of last year but it is still continuing. In the meantime the Showcase opened and people started going there. We have decided enough is enough. I do not think there is a market in West Bromwich for a cinema."
Mr Jervis said there were many parties interested in taking over the lease but not entertainment purposes.
"I have had Warner Brothers on the phone asking me if I want to run the new Harry Potter film but I have said no," he said.
