Edinburgh's Filmhouse launches third attempt for external advertising signage and new cinema screen
Edinburgh’s Filmhouse has applied for a third time for planning permission to erect external advertising in a bid to raise funds, along with plans for a new fourth cinema screen.
The Lothian Road cinema closed in October 2022 when its parent company, CMI, went into administration. But a campaign backed by actors, film makers and cinema goers has now been awarded UK government cash and council and Creative Scotland support with the aim of reopening the doors in the autumn.
The cinema, which recently signed a 25-year lease for the building, wants to add advertising signage at the front of the building to generate extra revenue.
Following two rejections for similar plans in the past, the Filmhouse has had “a total rethink” and submitted new proposals for a smaller transparent screen instead of the LED floodlights which gave the council concerns in two applications which were rejected in July.
The size of the newly proposed signage will also be reduced from the 9.5 metres wide by 15 metres high original application to a 9.5 metres wide by 5.9 metres high sign.
In the planning application, the Filmhouse said: “The proposed external transparent screen will provide a mechanism for funds to be raised through advertising, provide a mechanism to raise public awareness of fundraising campaigns, and generally brighten up this part of Lothian Road."
The proposals are also seeking permission for internal alterations including a new fourth cinema screen, which the council had said in previous applications “will not harm the listed building or its setting”. The Filmhouse warned that another planning refusal could “throw the future of the Filmhouse into doubt.
In its latest submitted planning application, the cinema said: “At the end of the day it becomes a decision of what is best for Edinburgh, approve listed building consent and consent to display an advertisement to ensure a thriving revitalised Filmhouse with an external screen to provide advertising revenue helping to secure the sustainability of the Filmhouse, or refuse listed building consent and consent to display an advertisement and throw the future of the Filmhouse into doubt.
“It is over to the planning department and the planning committee to do the right thing.”
The building was originally designed as a three-storey high, five-bay symmetrical rectangular plan classical church which was converted into a cinema complex.
Filmhouse was founded in 1979 as a public cinema at 88 Lothian Road. It grew out of the Edinburgh Film Guild, a longstanding membership-based organisation set up in 1930 to provide a showcase for the burgeoning ‘arthouse’ filmmaking not readily shown in commercial cinemas.
The Filmhouse ran successfully for over 30 years as a unique venue in the City, showcasing popular arthouse films alongside the full gamut of cultural cinema.