Save the Electric Palace Cinema High Street Hastings

Hi wonderful people of Hastings and beyond, We’re here asking for your help to save the Electric Palace from permanent closure. Unfortunately, we’ve had to close our doors at the start of 2022, our twentieth anniversary. At the start of the pandemic we were carried through by funding from the BFI Cultural Support Fund, but it did not cater for such a terrible December in which we made huge losses due to all the booking cancellations. Now we are left in a disastrous situation. Due to the understandable concerns that affect us all regarding the ongoing Covid Omicron variant, January film bookings and venue hire were at an all-time low. It has not proved financially viable for us to open our doors for film screenings. Even standing closed has substantial outgoings, and we are under threat of permanent closure. To screen a film incurs licence fees and staffing costs that only generate further loss if badly attended.We are a not for profit ‘Community Interest Company’ with a small team of part-time staff and 30 dedicated and brilliantly passionate volunteers. Our running costs rely on ticket sales and bar profits.