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The idea
The Forum Cinema Hexham is a single-screen, independent, community cinema that donates profits it makes (when it makes them) back into the community.
The ladies' toilets are dilapidated, but worse, they are terribly difficult to use and people with only minor mobility issues, or accompanying small children struggle with the doors and getting in and out of the cubicles.
We want to upgrade the toilets to create a pleasant experience in our beautiful cinema and an accessible experience for our patrons, many of whom are older ladies who struggle with the badly placed doors, the narrow cubicles and the poor layout.
What we'll deliver
- Refurbished bathroom with better access
- 3 new toilet cubicles that are easy to enter and use
Why it's a great idea
The Forum Cinema is a 86 year old community owned single screen cinema. It's the only full-time cinema in Northumberland and is a hub for film in the county, screening a broad and ambitious programme of first run releases, British, international and independent films and live broadcasts. Our cinema is frequented by many mature people, many of whom have some struggles with mobility, they aren't wheelchair bound (and we already cater very well for immobile people) but they have some difficulties bending and manouvering in tight spaces, which means our facilities are tricky to negotiate with very small, poorly laid out cubicles. The poor cubicles are impossible for women with children to navigate and they can't always wait for the accessible toilet to become available. To keep people coming to the cinema we need to offer a more comfortable toilet solution.
We run regular Dementia Friendly screenings, and relaxed inclusive screenings for children with additional needs.
Steps to get it done
- A new bathroom with 3 cubicles will be installed
- The bathroom will be open to the public immediately on installation
We need to keep the cinema as a thriving business. In the Hexham Town Plan the building is to be preserved as a cinema. As with the rest of the UK cinema industry we are still recovering from Covid and we are doing better than the UK cinema average trend in recovery. When we have recovered and we make a profit again (expected at the end of the 2024 /25 financial year), some of that profit goes back into the Hexham community and supports facilities run by Hexham Community Partnership such as community project Number 28 that helps people in the deprived areas of the town and HCP's offer of free access to leisure and community inclusion to the town.
We will support Hexham's first Pride festival this year. We have plans to widen our offer to support and promote locally made films such as Blue Jean, part of which was filmed here in Hexham, premiered at the Forum and was nominated for a BAFTA.
We run an annual film festival that outreaches to all the isolated villages in the area.
