PRESTON is to get a new 178-seater cinema at the university, the Citizen can reveal.

The cinema, open to members of the public and students alike, is set to open in the Foster Building, the main reception point of the University of Central Lancashire, off Corporation Street, before the end of the year, possibly as soon as September.

The full extent of the plans are being kept under wraps by university chiefs, but it is understood an existing lecture theatre is to be refurbished into a high-tech single-screen cinema that would show films in the evenings.

President of the Student's Union, Bryn Davies, said: "The cinema is part of the 'Culture at UCLan' scheme to promote culture in the region which we fully support.

"It will offer a bit more diversity to the students and give students on the relevant courses a chance to showcase some of their work in an environment which they might not have been able to previously."

And a statement on the UCLan's website said: "The cinema would showcase the very best in independent, arthouse, foreign-language and quality mainstream cinema from around the world."

The news has been welcomed by Rony Ghosh, of Seven Spice Films, which made the movie, Chicken Tikka Masala, filmed in the city.

"It should do well depending on how it's managed, it would certainly help the local cinema community," he said.

"If would offer the audience more choice, and Seven Spice would like to use the cinema to screen its films."

Councillor Veronica Afrin, executive member for regeneration, community and leisure services, said: "As a council we are fully encouraging this, and personally, I am looking forward to it."

She said the council was in discussions with UCLan about loaning equipment previously used at the Charter Theatre in the Guild Hall where a cinema club used to meet.

The university currently has a film society, with more than 600 members, which hosts weekly screenings at the university, and also buses students to watch films at the UCI cinema, on Preston Docks.

One member is film studies student Randolph Booth, 21, who graduates this summer. He said: "I think it's a really great idea. It's a shame it wasn't open while I was here, I would have gone quite a lot."

North West Vision, which promotes film in the region, also welcomed the move. Chief executive officer, Alice Mossison, said: "This is fantastic news as film is such an exciting cultural medium and this arthouse cinema will allow a regional audience to access a wide genre of films from all over the world."

According to the Preston Strategic Partnership the majority of the funding is already in place for the scheme, but an additional £30,000 is still outstanding.

The cinema follows other recent developments at the university including a new Student's Union, the 55 Degrees North venue, and a new computing and technology building which opened in 2003.