Manager at one of UK's oldest cinemas misses job so much during lockdown that he creates his own
Manager at one of UK's oldest cinemas misses job so much during lockdown that he creates his own
The manager at one of the UK's oldest cinemas has missed his job so much during lockdown that he has created his own cinema screen - in his GARAGE.Wayne Burns, 50, has been general manager of the 105-year-old Leiston Film Theatre - the oldest purpose-built theatre in Suffolk - for the past 28 years.But since the cinema closed in March due to the coronavirus lockdown, Wayne has been looking for activities to keep busy - and has turned his garage into a nine-seater cinema.The project took Wayne, from Leiston, Suffolk, about a month to complete - and includes red velour stage curtains and wall drapes, gold cinema curtain tassles, and even a popcorn machine.Wayne said: "I'm really happy with it - it will just be lovely to have the people in our 'social bubble' round here to watch a film."This is something that I've wanted to do for a couple of years now, and I've been getting the bits and pieces together for a while, but I've never had the time to make it happen."Then when lockdown came in, I got all the house decorating and the gardening done and I thought, now I need something else to distract me, to keep me sane."I've been in the cinema business for 30 years - I started my career showing films in the garden shed when I was too young to work in a projection room."In a way, I've come full circle - although this time it's a bit posher."Wayne, who was supposed to go on a cruise last month with his partner, Mandy Baskett, 45, said that the money they got back from the cruise was spent instead on the home cinema.But he said: "She loves it - she's a bit like me, she can't wait to invite people round to watch a film."Wayne and Mandy's first visitors to the cinema will be two groups of their friends, who are in their 'social bubble' - but they hope to soon be able to invite more friends over.And the first film showing at Wayne's "Picture Palace" will be the 1957 comedy 'The Smallest Show on Earth', starring Peter Sellers and Margaret Rutherford.It tells the story of a young couple who inherit a tiny tumbledown cinema, and their clashes with the owner of the towns much larger cinema, with the rival played by Francis de Wolff.Wayne joked: "It's got to be that film really, hasn't it?"Meanwhile, the first film that the Leiston Film Theatre will show when it reopens next Sunday (July 5), will be 2017 musical The Greatest Showman, starring Hugh Jackman.And despite now having his own home cinema, Wayne is looking forward to getting back to work next weekend. He said: "It's been awful, I can't describe how the last three months have been."All the staff are really looking to going back, and we've had a huge response from our customers - we sold over 100 tickets last night after we announced our re-opening."We've also gone above and beyond what we need to do to maintain safety and make sure our customers and staff feel as safe as possible."We will be maintaining the two-metre social distancing rule, and we've cut our seating right back from 253 seats to just 60 seats."
The manager at one of the UK's oldest cinemas has missed his job so much during lockdown that he has created his own cinema screen - in his GARAGE.Wayne Burns, 50, has been general manager of the 105-year-old Leiston Film Theatre - the oldest purpose-built theatre in Suffolk - for the past 28 years.But since the cinema closed in March due to the coronavirus lockdown, Wayne has been looking for activities to keep busy - and has turned his garage into a nine-seater cinema.The project took Wayne, from Leiston, Suffolk, about a month to complete - and includes red velour stage curtains and wall drapes, gold cinema curtain tassles, and even a popcorn machine.Wayne said: "I'm really happy with it - it will just be lovely to have the people in our 'social bubble' round here to watch a film."This is something that I've wanted to do for a couple of years now, and I've been getting the bits and pieces together for a while, but I've never had the time to make it happen."Then when lockdown came in, I got all the house decorating and the gardening done and I thought, now I need something else to distract me, to keep me sane."I've been in the cinema business for 30 years - I started my career showing films in the garden shed when I was too young to work in a projection room."In a way, I've come full circle - although this time it's a bit posher."Wayne, who was supposed to go on a cruise last month with his partner, Mandy Baskett, 45, said that the money they got back from the cruise was spent instead on the home cinema.But he said: "She loves it - she's a bit like me, she can't wait to invite people round to watch a film."Wayne and Mandy's first visitors to the cinema will be two groups of their friends, who are in their 'social bubble' - but they hope to soon be able to invite more friends over.And the first film showing at Wayne's "Picture Palace" will be the 1957 comedy 'The Smallest Show on Earth', starring Peter Sellers and Margaret Rutherford.It tells the story of a young couple who inherit a tiny tumbledown cinema, and their clashes with the owner of the towns much larger cinema, with the rival played by Francis de Wolff.Wayne joked: "It's got to be that film really, hasn't it?"Meanwhile, the first film that the Leiston Film Theatre will show when it reopens next Sunday (July 5), will be 2017 musical The Greatest Showman, starring Hugh Jackman.And despite now having his own home cinema, Wayne is looking forward to getting back to work next weekend.
He said: "It's been awful, I can't describe how the last three months have been."All the staff are really looking to going back, and we've had a huge response from our customers - we sold over 100 tickets last night after we announced our re-opening."We've also gone above and beyond what we need to do to maintain safety and make sure our customers and staff feel as safe as possible."We will be maintaining the two-metre social distancing rule, and we've cut our seating right back from 253 seats to just 60 seats."
