I really don't understand this great fear of there being a church in The Capital.

Well it would partly be the TYPE of church I think. And also why would we want a prime high street site, and a large one, to be taken over by a church?

I suppose congregation could become punters after a service.

Storyteller
I do not fear churches but I would be really upset if the capitol building became closed to me in the future, as it would if it became a church or other religious establishment of which I was not a member. As a Witherspoon pub for the last 10 or so years it has been substantially better than what pre existed , sadly I fear it is unlikely that I will be able to leave a similar post in 10 tears time.

Robbrocley has a point when he says "what type of church".
A good pub can be a place of friendship. A good church should be the same, and more.

To me a place of worship is a church not an ex cinema/pub. But that may just be me.

Any further news on whats going to happen do ito ce its close?

negotiations still going on, staff have now been told their jobs are safe for 3 months but it is definitely going to close. realistically I can't see them closing until after Xmas and the New Year.

When the ship of fools closed to become a Sainsbury local, it was about a year after the first rumours of closure.

I really hope that the Capitol does not become another 'Church'. I lived for many years right next to the 'Kingdom Hall' (Jehovah's Witness) on Davids Road for many years before it became another church called 'Through Jesus'. They were a friendly bunch of people and I often chatted to them when they congregated outside on the pavement.

However, most of the congregation were not from Forest Hill. They came from farther afield and I just feel that this type of usage for a prominent Forest Hill building will not enhance the growing community feeling we have in Forest Hill.

Just my opinion.......

do not worry, still unsure as to what it will be, but definitely not a church ....

So says Malcolm CHURCH....

I was reading this article this morning and was shocked to learn that Lewisham is one of only two London boroughs which does not have a cinema (the other Waltham Forest appears from the article to be in the process of renovating an old cinema so soon Lewisham could be the ONLY London borough without a cinema).
http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/o...rification

I know there has been some speculation that the Capitol might revert to a cinema - in light of this information I really do hope some serious thought is given to this option and that, if possible, Lewisham Council should get involved in order to help secure and fast track such a project. It makes far too much sense not to happen - provision of a much needed facility in the borough, with renovation of a historic building and one would hope coupled to the sort of regeneration of FH town centre that has been discussed on another thread.

Perhaps we could start a campaign...

I am the originator of this post and I have been reliably informed that, despite much effort, Lewisham Council and English Heritage have imposed conditions making it impossible for a cinema to be viable.

Whether or not it will remain a Wetherspoons is unknown.

Apologies for misleading everyone.

Michael (24/06)
In his earlier posting (24/06) on this thread outlined very well the massive hurdles anyone would come up against were they inclined to turn it into a cinema.
I would quote but I do not know how to.

Is this the post to which you are referring?

I would reiterate that this would not be the first listed cinema to be converted into a multi-screen cinema, and there is plenty of examples of where this has worked. I would hope that a cinema chain would know all about such conversions and that Lewisham Council and English Heritage would not stand in the way of such a conversion taking place. For me there is heritage value in turning a cinema into a cinema again, rather than simply focusing on how a balcony looks out on a potentially empty building.

I went back and looked at Michael's (24/6) post you mentioned (p2 of the thread) and cannot see the massive hurdles he apparently cited? Indeed he was noting how much sense a cinema would make in FH given the transport links and that there was precedent for re-converting old cinemas back to their original intended purpose.

As for why English Heritage or Lewisham Council would impose conditions against it becoming a cinema I cannot possibly imagine? I mean let's not forget The Capitol was built to be a cinema, why would people be against exploring converting it back to a cinema given the absence of one in Lewisham and (if this thread is anything to go by) strong support and goodwill among local residents for it to happen?

[EDIT: I see Michael beat me to it to make the same point]

This post was last modified: 09-10-2014 01:50 PM by stepover.

A shame to hear what Malcolm says. Where has this information come from Malcolm and is there anything that can be done to challenge this? If not, then I am very interested to hear from those able to comment on how to try and get a cinema in lewisham. It does seem shocking that none exist.

My information came from a Wetherspoons member of staff who also knows the leaseholder.

Two cinema chains were very interested but they needed multiple screens for this to work.

I do not know the details but apparently this was not feasible due to the structure of the building and limitations imposed by Lewisham and English heritage.

Technically this is all hearsay but I do trust my source...