Teenagers and youth workers have said the closure of Oban Phoenix Cinema is a “huge blow” to the town.
Yesterday, Oban Phoenix Cinema announced that it was to close, due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Today, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) has said the cinema is insolvent and is calling in liquidators for the community-owned business.
Young people in the town said they don’t know what to do without the cinema.
It is understood that nine jobs will be lost with its closure.
Staff members, some who have worked there since the cinema opened, say they are “gutted” at the news.
‘It is a blow for Oban’
Alex Gregory, 16, a pupil at Oban High School said: “It is awful news, absolutely terrible, My auntie works there.
“I know I can watch Disney at home, but it is not the same getting popcorn at Tesco.”
Youth worker Tom Agnes, 30, said: “We would say that this is a massive blow to the town, and to young people.
“I work in Oban, but I am from Glasgow and we come here to do youth work.
“During our time in Oban we have been using the cinema.
“There is not a whole lot happening in Oban for young people, there are not a lot of things to do – so this is huge.
“We are really sorry to see it close.”
Niamh Dott, 13, said: “I don’t think there is much to do in Oban and the cinema was a great place to go.
“It has a good choice of films, so you could go with younger people or older people and there was always something to watch. I actually went quite a lot and I don’t know what we will do now.”
Diana Isabel Londono Fajardo, 16, said the loss of the cinema was going to have an impact on culture and the arts in Oban.
She said: “I am sad that it is closed. It was a great place to go with friends.
“I was shocked when friends said to me that it was closed now. I love close to the cinema, so I did use it a lot.
50 miles to the nearest cinema
“It is a place to escape to, a place to escape reality especially some of the movies that allow you to see the world from a different perspective.
“It has helped me have conversations and to communicate things to people, and it has helped me understand things that I may not otherwise have been able to understand.
“It is huge for anyone interested in the arts, and I do not know how we will fill the gap.”
A bus driver for West Coast Motors told The Press and Journal that it was “just awful”.
Maz Gordon, 44, said: “We now need to travel 50-odd miles to see a film. What on earth can we do?”
In a brief statement the Scottish charity regular OSCR said it had called in liquidators after finding the cinema charity was insolvent.
Accounts available on the regulator’s page show that in 2023, the cinema’s 11th year of trading as a company show there was a £50,000 black hole between income and expenditure.
Income has dropped year-on-year since 2020, from £344,611 to £279,194 in 2023.
Accounts for 2024 were not available.
Trustees of Oban Phoenix Cinema were approached for comment, but declined.
In a short statement on the cinema building, it said it was closed due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
