Laois enterprise centre sets sights on redevelopment of Savoy Cinema

THE now dilapidated Savoy Cinema, with an address at Market Square, is being eyed by the Portarlington Enterprise Centre team for a potential redevelopment in collaboration with Laois Co Council.

During the latest meeting of the council, councillors heard a presentation by Carol McMann, director of the enterprise centre, when she said: "The board is really looking for a way to branch out. We have achieved what we set out to do in the past 20 years and we are now looking at doing something different – the regeneration of the cinema."

The Savoy first opened its doors in 1945 and was in business for almost 50 years before its doors shut for good in the mid-1990s; the tragedy of its foreclosure compounded by the fact that it had only just recently had its own cinematic close-up, being heavily featured in the Colm Meaney Irish-produced hit film Into the West. A memoriam to its heyday still graces the rundown cinema’s crumbling facade; two figures on horseback as seen in the western-styled film.

With Portarlington Enterprise Centre routinely hitting full occupancy, the decision was made to purchase the site for a figure of €1.4 million.

However, Mrs McCann underscored the fact that they would only proceed if they could prove its financial viability. She said: "As a board, we are keen that it will pay for itself. We want to have some community focus, for it not to be all about enterprises, but it has to pay the bills and we will only proceed if we can prove that."

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme