A CAMPAIGN to bring back a Cinema to Accrington has moved a step closer .

It is believed the council has been negotiating with Arrow Cinemas -- which has a multiplex just outside Glasgow -- to develop a site at Moreton Street.

Hyndburn Council leader Peter Britcliffe said the council had held talks with a cinema operator and another firm which was interested in building a bowling alley on the same site.

Earlier this year council bosses set aside £20,000 for the investigation and promotion of a cinema in the borough after receiving a petition and meeting 12-year-old schoolgirl Emma Allerdice.

Emma, a pupil at Rhyddings High School, Oswaldtwistle, launched her campaign -- which also has the backing of Hyndburn MP Greg Pope -- last April.

Council leader Peter Britcliffe today said: "We have had a number of inquiries since the recent petition we received from Emma and since the council put £20,000 into the possibility of bringing a cinema back to the area.

"Most interest has centred around Moreton Street and we hope that it might be possible to build a four-screen cinema and a bowling alley.

"We appear to have a very firm interest and are very hopeful that this may lead to a development.

"We have to be very cautious at this stage because there have been false starts before but we are moving in the right direction.

"There is a very strong demand for a cinema in the area and it is good news that we are getting this interest from an operator again."

The town's last cinema -- the three-screen Unit Four in Broadway -- was closed 10 years ago to make way for shops.

No one at Arrow was available for comment.