‘A monument to kindness’: the rise of Britain’s community cinemas

Thirty years ago, the battle to save a cinema would take Jan Dunn and her community on an adventure worthy of a film itself.

When she heard that the Apollo, the last cinema in the area, was closing, she got together with a group of women who rescued it from demolition, and so was born the Plaza community cinema, run by volunteers and a handful of employees.

Local people refer to the Plaza as a “landmark” in Crosby, Merseyside, and speak with pride of the venue.

“When I started, I was 42; now I am 72,” says Jan, the cinema’s remaining founder and chair of trustees. “We were just a group of housewives and knew nothing about cinema, but we learned and we were determined.”

Jan says they could not have done it without the “amazing support” from the community.

Recalling their desperatio