Councillors Condemn Cinema As ‘Appalling . . . Dangerous . . . A Disgrace’
Two of the most prominent and long-running topics regularly covered in the Falmouth Packet of the 1970s and ‘80s were the town’s dire car parking problems – specifically the debate over a possible multi-storey car park – and the future of its old-established cinema, alternately known as the Grand and the ABC. In early 1985, the two clashed head-on. A few years earlier, a Save Our Cinema campaign had won much support, but things were different now, with local councillors savaging the state of the place.
At the February meeting of the town council’s planning committee, the Grand was labelled “a positive disgrace,” with a call for it to be pulled down to make way for more parking. Mayor Douglas Martinsuggested a multi-storey car park (MSCP) should be built in its place – with another one at Town Quarry, and a new cinema beneath it! With county council officers also attending, the committee was discussing various options in the Draft Local Plan. Councillor Mrs Olive White, a former Mayor, complained: “The cinema at the moment is a positive disgrace. It’s falling down anyway; it doesn’t need pulling down. If you get half a dozen people in there, you’re lucky. That isn’t because of the films being shown, it’s because of the condition of the cinema.” Councillor Martin agreed: “The place is in an appalling condition; it could even be described as dangerous. The district council could buy it and earmark it for an MSCP.” Councillor Mrs Brenda Bailey said people would no longer want to fight for the Grand in the way they had in 1978, when a car park had first been suggested for the site.
‘I Quit – I’m Closing The Grand’
Eleven months later, in January, 1986, the Grand was back in the news with the announcement by its operator, Norman Whale, that it was to close at the end of the month, leaving the town with no cinema and a dozen staff out of work. He had “had enough,” he said, and had handed the lease back to EMI. “Nobody seems to want the cinema any more and there’s been a lot of upset among the staff,” he added, citing falling attendance figures and financial losses. Mr Whale, who lived in Somerset, said he would continue to lease Truro’s Plaza Cinema, where he ran “a very successful business with a happy staff.” He explained that he had rejected the option of purchasing the Grand from EMI and commented: “I have no idea what will happen to the building after January. Truro is now the place for everything in Cornwall and I shall be concentrating my time on developing the Plaza.”
However, one of his Falmouth staff, cashier and key holder, Mrs Cynthia Hampshire, went public with her frustration, claiming the Grand could become profitable again “if someone was prepared to spend money on repairs.” She was “in despair” over the planned closure and she and her colleagues were all “very upset and amazed” by the decision. On the building’s current condition, she said: “The grand old lady has been showing her knickers lately and is in a terrible state. We have been operating for the last two months with no phone and we’ve had no fresh supplies of sweets and chocolate since October; we can only sell ice cream and drinks. Many of our customers are very angry about this.” She also claimed that heating had not been switched on in the cinema until November, with patrons regular ly bringing hot water bottles and blankets with them. “There’s not even toilet paper in the toilets and when people pay a visit they have to come and ask staff for paper. It’s terrible. Mrs Hampshire said a ceiling in the freezer store had collapsed and that the stage and floor of the cinema were “dripping wet” from rain water leaking in.
But Mr Whale countered that staff had been “a problem” and were partly to blame for the closure. New supplies of refreshments were not delivered because members of staff were not available there for morning deliveries, he claimed. As well as “a lot of problems with staff,” he had inherited a bad heating system when he took over the Grand. The heating was now on and the problems were “nowhere near as bad as Mrs Hampshire is making out,” he argued.
Action Group Formed To Combat ‘Years Of Neglect’
Annoyed by what it called “years of neglect” by Carrick District Council, a Falmouth Action Group was formally established to act on behalf of the town’s ratepayers. A 40-strong team of workers began visiting local homes and in the first three days had attracted more than 500 paid-up members, leading to a claim that the new body was already Falmouth’s strongest pressure group.
Acting chairman of the group – effectively a strong ratepayers association – was prominent Falmouth estate agent and now former borough councillor Ruth Jones/Dunstan, figurehead in a vigorous campaign against the controversial Well Lane multi-storey car park scheme, which had split the town in two. “I feel Falmouth has been neglected ever since the local government reorganisation of 1974,” she said. “I want to see the historic proportions protected and the commercial section built up on the best possible lines . . . The action group will be consultative. There will be a voice and we will address each matter as it turns up. The important thing is to give the residents a voice. They are the only ones in the town who are not organised.”
There was early action when the group stepped up opposition to the Well Lane scheme with an 11th hour plea to Environment Secretary Michael Heseltine to intervene before an upcoming meeting of Carrick Council. In a telegram, the group said its members unanimously opposed the scheme, which was “based partially on false premises and (is) being hastily processed entirely against the wishes of the large majority of residents in order to gain Government grant.” The telegram added: “This folly disastrous for Falmouth and will not, repeat not, solve traffic problems. Furthermore, members totally support adoption Town Quarry site. Please intervene.”
In November, 1982, the group announced that it was “going into cold storage” following its “magnificent victory” against the Well Lane scheme – but it would remain ready to spring into action again in the event of another controversial planning application affecting the town. Miss Jones told the group’s annual meeting: “We know from our MP that the Secretary of State feels that such action groups are immensely valuable, but most valuable when they spring up as we did – really motivated by one or more major problems.”
Councillors Up In Arms Over Loss Of Court
A healthy rivalry has existed between Falmouth and Penryn ever since the former had the cheek to begin existing and then grow far ahead of the latter even though it was so much younger. Imagine the emotions, therefore, when Falmouth had the cheek to “steal” Penryn’s magistrates court! That’s what happened in early 1985 and Penryn Town Council, for one, took a pretty dim view of it.
Barely a month before the great move was scheduled to come about, the councillors got to hear of it for the first time. At their January meeting, members rued the imminent loss of the court, which had been held in the Town Hall for at least 400 years. They were about to lose “another piece of Penryn prestige to Falmouth,” a town more than 400 years younger than its neighbour albeit now nearly four times larger. Of immediate concern was the lost revenue, with the town council having spent some £60,000 in the late 1970s on improvements to the building, especially the magistrates court section. Mayor John Pollard pointed out: “They rent the courtroom on a 12-month basis. I would have thought we should have had 12 months’ notice of their intentions.” Moreover, some form of justice had been administered in Penryn from the time of its charter, 1236.
Councillor John Barringer said: “They have been our tenants for over 400 years. To walk out without saying goodbye I think is blatantly bad manners. We certainly feel aggrieved that the first we heard of it is a notice in the press and a small typewritten slip saying the court would move. The main part of the building was refurbished five or six years ago, mainly to bring the court side of the operation up to a workable standard.”
Town clerk Reg Chegwidden said the clerk to the magistrates, Mr R Sefton Sidle, had been very apologetic about the situation. He said the wheels at County Hall had not turned as fast as they should have done and the council should have been notified some time ago. Councillor Jack Chinn reminded members that two of the last men to be hanged in Britain for murder had begun their trial at Penryn.
The meeting heard that an old church hall in Falmouth had been converted into a court complex at a cost of £175,000 and a spokesman for the county council’s magistrates clerks committee later said the decision to move had been made by the Penryn justices themselves and no pressure had been brought on them. “The reasons were that we have a far superior building in which to hold courts,” said the spokesman,”and not only that, all the staff are under one roof.” Even though they would be moving to Falmouth, they would still be Penryn magistrates and would deal with all the cases normally brought before them. The reason for the short notice to the council, he said, was that the decision had only been made in the previous month.
