The Tower Cinemas in Newcastle’s CBD has been quietly sold, which comes as a shock to many in the community who wished for a cinema to remain in the King Street location.
Owned by Event Hospitality and Entertainment Limited, the Tower Cinemas first opened its doors in April 1976, providing much-loved entertainment to the Newcastle community until its closure in December 2018.
The iconic Tower Cinemas was the last remaining operating cinema in Newcastle’s inner city and an iconic venue in the local community.
A half-yearly results report released by Event revealed the company had sold the Newcastle venue in late 2021 along with a number of other ‘non-core assets’ including Bankstown, Canberra Civic and QT Falls Creek.
The details of the sale, the buyer, the price, or the plans for the building remain unknown.
Community advocate, Sinead Francis-Coan, initiated the Save the Tower Cinemas campaign following the announcement of its closure in 2018—her online petition garnered more than 7000 signatures.
Francis-Coan said she was disappointed and frustrated with the quiet sale of the building considering the community’s continued interest in keeping the cinema open.
“The two main requests of this campaign have been for the Tower Cinemas to remain as a cinema under different management and for Event to inform the community of their intentions,” Francis-Coan said.
“At every step of the way I have attempted to communicate directly with Event.
“I sent them the petition and an open letter and invited them to address a public meeting held in June 2019 which was declined.
“Given the interest we have expressed it was highly disappointing to learn of this news from an online report.”
Francis-Coan said the campaign also predicted an increased necessity for a cinema in the CBD as the number of inner-city residents increased.
“To my knowledge, the Tower Cinemas are the last cinema of their era that remain structurally intact without significant changes. The building is part of our built and social heritage,” she said.
“Since learning of this half-yearly report, I have again contacted Event directly by phone and subsequently via email in an attempt to gain further information about the reported sale.
“I have received no response to my enquiry. It is high time Event inform the community and demonstrate transparency given the significance of the Towers.”
According to the Newcastle Herald, Event confirmed the sale and stated that finalisation procedures would occur within the next few months.
“The decision to close the cinema was based on our strong commitment to keep reinvesting in our other venues in the region,” the statement read.
Director of Iconic Cinemas, Steven Pritchard, said the establishment of his company came off the back of a negotiation with Event to lease the premises.
“In 2019, I decided to contact Event and ask them if they would be prepared to lease the premises to a locally owned company to re-open the cinemas,” Pritchard said.
“Event, through their agent, subsequently indicated that they would consider leasing the building for use as a cinema.
“This was what led to the establishment of Iconic Cinemas, whose object was to negotiate a lease of the premises from Event and engage various consultants and tradespeople to provide advice on what was required to re-open the cinemas.”
Pritchard said despite their early negotiations and engagement of tradespeople to do initial works, Event decided that it was not their preferred option to lease the Tower Cinemas as a cinema.
“They didn’t tell us that they were selling. I expected that they would sell though, considering that they have been selling a number of properties around Australia,” Pritchard said.
“The ones they have sold have restrictions on the future use of those buildings.
“I would expect that the Tower Cinemas has restrictions as well, stopping it from re-opening as a cinema in the future.”
Pritchard said Iconic Cinemas was now looking at alternative venues that might be used to bring a cinema back to Newcastle.
“I think the only way we will get a cinema back in the city is a locally funded one, with community support and fundraising. So we want to work towards that over the next couple of months,” Pritchard said.
“They did this in Sawtell, NSW, where the local cinema shut, and the people got together and raised $2 million and bought the premises. They refitted it and leased it out to Majestic Cinemas.
“We would need a lot more money if we were to do that in Newcastle. We would also need to find a large enough space that didn’t have columns, that had a relatively high ceiling and adequate parking— so it will be difficult, but it’s worth trying.”
Hayley McMahon