Dorchester's Plaza cinema prepares to take on new rival

10:27am Tuesday 1st September 2009

By Joanna Davis

A TRADITIONAL picture house is stepping up its battle to survive before a hi-tech rival cinema opens its doors.

Management at The Plaza Cinema in Dorchester is readying itself for a David and Goliath battle with a planned Brewery Square development cinema by building a third screen.

Cinema boss Chris McDonald said he may even add a fourth screen once the old bingo hall in Trinity Street is converted for the extension.

“It’s a priority for us – we are hoping to get people in to start doing the plans next month.”

Mr McDonald hopes that his traditional cinema will be well-equipped to take on the might of the provisionally titled Screen-on-the-Square at Brewery Square when it opens.

He said: “I don’t see the new cinema as a threat, we’re not overly concerned about it. But my personal view is that they are wasting their time.”

Andrew Wadsworth, co-director of the Brewery Square development, said he thinks there is room for competition in the town.

“It would be wrong of me to comment on the Plaza, but there’s certainly room for two cinemas in Dorchester.

“Ours will be a good quality cinema with good quality seating, a good quality sound system and a bar and a café,” he said.

Under the Brewery Square plans, the cinema building itself would form an outside screen with three screens inside.

Mr Wadsworth added that a cinema operator had been lined up, but was unwilling to say which.

Mr McDonald plans to reward the film fans who keep returning to the Plaza by ensuring that prices during the week remain at £2.50.

He said: “We provide people with a service – these multiplexes are all very well, but realistically some people cannot afford to pay those prices for the cinema because we are in a recession.

“Our cinema is traditional – muliplexes are too clinical. People like our approach and say we are always friendly and polite. The way I see it is we charge less and get more people in, then we become more popular. We’re getting a lot of teenagers coming back to us now and we get many people coming from Weymouth and Bridport.”

“I don’t understand why they are building the other cinema, but if it’s going to go ahead then it’s going to go ahead. People might go to it at first but I think they will keep coming back to us,” he said.

The Plaza, which was built in 1933, survived competition from Weymouth Cineworld in 1991 despite fears that it would shut.

It was built for £20,000 and has been visited by famous film stars Douglas Fairbanks and Gracie Fields.