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Nor'West News: March 14, 2024

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Thursday <strong>March</strong> <strong>14</strong> <strong>2024</strong> 3<br />

Cinema’s new lease of life<br />

• By Dylan Smits<br />

MAJOR renovations to the<br />

Hollywood Cinema in Sumner<br />

are under way.<br />

Contractors from Bushnell<br />

Builders have torn down the<br />

front canopy facing Marriner St<br />

as part of the first stage of the<br />

makeover.<br />

“It’s been a long time coming,<br />

so it’s good to see things finally<br />

under way,” said project manager<br />

Andy Wilkinson.<br />

Built in 1938, the oldest<br />

cinema in Christchurch will become<br />

part of the high-end Silky<br />

Otter Cinemas chain.<br />

It was owned by cinema<br />

pioneer Lang Masters for more<br />

than six decades. He died, aged<br />

92, in August last year.<br />

Masters sold the cinema to<br />

the Doig family in September<br />

2021, who are leasing it to Silky<br />

Otter.<br />

Wilkinson said the construction<br />

part of the renovation will<br />

hopefully be complete in December<br />

with the opening date<br />

yet to be determined.<br />

“What we’re figuring out right<br />

now is how the tenant’s needs<br />

are going to integrate with that.<br />

They have to install the seating,<br />

the audiovisual equipment and<br />

the fit out of the bar.”<br />

It will be determined in<br />

the coming weeks whether<br />

VISION: Work has started on the Hollywood Cinema in<br />

Sumner. Below – an artist’s impression of the cinema<br />

after it is converted into part of the Silky Otter Cinema<br />

chain.<br />

Silky Otter can refurbish the<br />

interior at the same time as the<br />

construction work, Wilkinson<br />

said.<br />

Three 48-seater luxury cinemas<br />

and a bar will be created.<br />

Wilkinson said the back end<br />

of the building will be extended,<br />

making room for an additional<br />

cinema to complement the<br />

previous two.<br />

The city council issued a<br />

building consent in November.<br />

Bushnell Builders was selected<br />

as the contractor last month.<br />

Before major structural work<br />

can begin, asbestos in the walls<br />

and ceilings will be removed.<br />

Then new foundations for<br />

the existing building and the<br />

extension will be constructed.<br />

“There’s quite a lot of work<br />

that’s got to be done inside<br />

with the structure before that<br />

rear wall can be taken out,”<br />

Wilkinson said.<br />

The neighbouring Coffee<br />

Culture, which is attached<br />

to the building, will also be<br />

renovated with designs still in<br />

the planning stage, he said.<br />

The owner of Sumner Bar<br />

and Grill next door, Shubham<br />

Kumar, welcomed the start of<br />

the renovations.<br />

“It will definitely be good. If<br />

customers go there, they will<br />

come here too.”<br />

Community<br />

board chair’s<br />

resignation<br />

on the table<br />

• By Chris Barclay<br />

HELEN Broughton’s future as<br />

chair of the Waipuna Halswell-<br />

Hornby-Riccarton Community<br />

Board should be clarified today,<br />

despite her resignation from the<br />

role following<br />

pressure from<br />

colleagues.<br />

Although the<br />

city’s longestserving<br />

local<br />

government<br />

politician tendered<br />

her resignation<br />

ahead of the<br />

board’s monthly<br />

meeting, standing down was<br />

Helen<br />

Broughton<br />

contingent on Broughton being<br />

able to act as board spokesperson<br />

on planning and housing<br />

intensification.<br />

Broughton, who has represented<br />

Riccarton on the board since 1995,<br />

included that caveat, which was set<br />

to be a major talking point on this<br />

afternoon’s agenda.<br />

If her stipulation is denied she<br />

planned to revoke her resignation,<br />

exacerbating an impasse.<br />

Appointed unopposed as chair<br />

in 2022 elections, Broughton’s<br />

final term before retirement came<br />

under scrutiny following a difficult<br />

meeting on February 15.<br />

Read local<br />

■ Blinds Indoor and<br />

Outdoor<br />

■ Security Doors and<br />

Windows<br />

■ Magnetic Insect<br />

Screens<br />

■ Retractable Fly Screen<br />

Doors<br />

10c Sheffield Crescent, Burnside<br />

Ph: 03 358 9237<br />

www.chcbs.co.nz<br />

Shake it off.<br />

Shake it off.<br />

IT WORKS FOR TAYLOR. WE CAN MAKE IT WORK FOR YOUR WORRIES, NEEDS OR RISKS TOO. LET’S TALK.<br />

03 359 6679 | PAPANUI.LAWYER@SAUNDERS.CO.NZ | CITY, WIGRAM, PAPANUI, FERRYMEAD | SAUNDERS.CO.NZ

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