York City Screen's arthouse cinema project is to receive a record Lottery grant of £2,370,000 to create a new cinema for the city centre.

The Arts Council National Lottery grant allocation announced today beats the £1.5 million awarded last year to the York Early Music Foundation to renovate St Margaret's Church in Walmgate. Yet it still falls £430,000 short of the application made last March by the London cinema chain and architects Panter Hudspith to convert the derelict Yorkshire Herald buildings in Coney Street into a riverside cinema with three screens, a restaurant, bar, river walkway, exhibition space, creche and educational facilities. City Screen director Lyn Goleby said: "We are tremendously lucky to have achieved such an enormous contribution from the Arts Council and as far as I'm concerned the hard work starts now. This cinema will transform and revitalise the night life in that part of the city centre."

The City Screen development, now due for completion in December 1999 at the earliest, will give York its first city-centre cinema since the closure of the ABC in October 1986.

Meanwhile, York Theatre Royal has been granted £40,250 by the Lottery fund for a feasibility study into the final stage of the refurbishment of the Grade II listed building, which has so far cost £750,000. The development would include creating a space for education work, the extension of the foyer and improvements to the building's exterior and roof at a cost of £2 million to £2.5 million.

Filey is hoping to pull in hordes of tourists once again after netting £1.3m Government regeneration cash. Other historic towns in North and East Yorkshire such as Selby, Thirsk, Knaresborough and Scarborough have also received a share of the cash.

See COMMENT, New cinema is a boost to York

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