Sheffield cinema gets share of £2.9m to help protect jobs

The money comes as part of the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund and the owners of The Light chain say that the boost will help ‘protect the jobs’ of the 220 people it employs nationwide.

Sheffield’s branch on The Moor is one of 10 The Light cinemas to have been granted access to the funding by the British Film Institute.

The £2.9 million is a slice of £18 million set aside for the final grants in the first round of the funding.

Keith Pullinger, deputy chairman and founder of The Light Cinemas, said: “We want to thank everyone at the BFI and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport for supporting us through the process to receive a grant from the Culture Recovery Fund.

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"Covid-19 has devastated our finances and this grant is essential to protect our future and ensure our survival. There is still a lot of work to do, but we now have a platform to start rebuilding our business from.

"Our landlords and suppliers will need to play their part but this will help protect the jobs of the 220 people who are employed at our cinemas.”

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden said: "From restoring Georgian lidos and Roman baths to saving local screens and synagogues, our Culture Recovery Fund is helping to save the places people can’t wait to get back to, when it is safe to do so.”