WINCANTON is set to get a new cinema – and it could be open before the end of the year

Your New Blackmore Vale understands the former Plaza Cinema, in South Street, is in the process of being purchased by S&B Cinemas.

The firm – which runs the Westway Cinema in Frome, The Ritz cinema in Burnham-on-Sea and The Avenue Cinema in Minehead – intends to open a three-screen complex in Wincanton.

A source told your NBV the company was in the process of securing the premises, with building work to convert and repair the building potentially starting in the coming weeks.

It is hoped it will welcome film goers before the end of the year.

The original Plaza Cinema opened in 1934, but was converted into a bingo hall in 1970.

In 1989, films were once again shown at the South Street cinema, but the venue closed in 1992. Although re-opened as a cinema in the intervening years, the building was taken on by Wincanton Community Church in 1999, but has been vacant since 2014.

Now, it looks as though Wincanton will once again welcome the big-screen.