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.
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