AS one of the leading figures involved in the Evening Press Save the York Odeon campaign, I would like to ask all the thousands of York citizens who signed the petition to now support the cinema by actually using it.

It needs more than mere signatures to save the Odeon from closure.

The Odeon company, which is assessing its economic viability, will now be expecting to see an upsurge in the Blossom Street cinema's attendance.

The Evening Press campaign was fought with a combination of professional and voluntary efforts that culminated in the petitions being presented at Odeon HQ in London. Now is the time to sustain that support.

The Odeon chain is currently owned by venture capitalists who will want to see large attendance and receive maximum profits from their investment in Odeon cinemas.

York Odeon will not be kept operating on sentimental memories alone. It is a commercial business.

The message Odeon is clearly sending out is: "Use it or lose it". Let us not make the irretrievable mistake of allowing the company the excuse to say they were forced into closing our fine Art Deco building, and selling it to the highest bidder for redevelopment.

Derek Atkins,

Public relations officer for Mercia

Cinema Society,

Mount Vale,

York.

Updated: 11:49 Thursday, April 08, 2004