Ritz cinema project secures 25-year lease

By Michael Skinner OTB

— Off The Bench, a Lincoln-based voluntary organisation, have set out to bring back the Ritz cinema to its former glory. In this week’s instalment of their updates on the project, OTB’s Michael Skinner has some exciting news.

The exciting news to announce this week is that Off The Bench has signed the lease for the Ritz building!

After a few weeks of dotting i’s and crossing t’s, we are now in a position whereby we can officially start the renovation work.

This is great news for everyone involved as the project can begin gathering pace once again. The future of the Ritz is now secured for the next 25 years and we are looking forward to a prosperous period beginning for the building.

As mentioned in a previous update, we have been attempting to set up an exhibition of the designs for the hoardings once construction work is underway.

Through the hard work of Lecturer Jaki Fisher and her 2nd year Creative Advertising students, we are now in a position to announce when and where this will take place.

The exhibition will be an opportunity for members of the public to see work the students have produced inspired by their brief of The Ritz Project.

Included in the exhibition will be a voting system allowing people to vote on which designs they would like to see used in the hoardings. It will run week long from 12pm on March 12 to 2pm on March 23.

The opening times for viewing the exhibition will be 10am – 3pm Tuesday to Thursday, 12pm – 3pm on Monday and 10am – 2pm on Friday.

The location of the exhibition is inside the Waterside Shopping Centre in the former Hawkers shop unit (opposite Goldsmith Jewellers) on the High Street level.

Throughout the week, students will be on hand to discuss their work and how the Ritz project inspired them to produce their particular images.

Also at the exhibition will be team members of Off The Bench, who will be able to talk about The Ritz project and also hand out our new Ritz-inspired posters and flyers.

We hope to see as many people down there as possible showing their support for the project and the excellent work the students have produced.

For up-to-date news follow the Off The Bench Ritz project on Twitter.

More on the OTB Ritz Cinema project:

• Please find your seats, the film is about to begin
• Work begins to restore Lincoln’s Ritz cinema
• Support pours in for Ritz cinema project
• Inside the Lincoln Ritz cinema revamp project