FALLING attendances could force a town centre cinema to close just nine months after it moved to a new venue.

Bosses at Clitheroe's Stage and Screen @ St Mary's have now issued a 'use it or lose it' plea to cinemagoers.

Closure would leave the town without a cinema for the first time in 84 years.

Attendances have plummeted since the cinema's £20,000 move from the Grand Theatre, York Street, to the Parish Centre, Church Street, in December.

Operated by Trinity Community Partnerships, a volunteer-led charity promoting arts in the Ribble Valley, Stage and Screen currently shows films every week night, with extra matinee showings during school holidays.

Bosses are now considering reducing the number of showings or even closing the cinema altogether because it is losing too much money.

A public meeting will be held at the cinema tonight, at 7.30pm, to gauge public support for the venture.

Geoff Thompson, chief executive of Trinity, said: "Attendances have not been too good so we need to find out from the pubic what we have been doing wrong or how to do things differently.

"We haven't been helped by the fact that over the last six months the quality of films on offer has been poor. That is reflected in cinema attendances being down by 20 per cent across the country.

"Also, the fact we are hidden away in Church Street has maybe contributed to poor attendances. Its previous venue at the Grand was on a thoroughfare through town and everyone knew where it was.

"We get the films between two and four weeks after the main cinemas because film companies say we can't guarantee the number of screenings. That doesn't help matters, but most of our audience are older people and children and they are perhaps not too bothered about waiting a couple of weeks.

"We have been losing money -- we're down by 20 or 25 per cent on figures we used to get at the Grand -- and we've come to the point where we have to stop or start making it pay."

Run by 12 volunteers and a paid projectionist, the cinema is part of a venue that also provides live entertainment including plays, concerts and other events.

Chris Hughes, Ribble Valley Council's community development manager, said: "We know the pressures they have been under with competition from multi-screen cinemas elsewhere.

"The atmosphere can't be good at a cinema that I believe sometimes only attracts 10 people."