Red Carpet rolled out at Arc Cinema Beeston

Arc Cinema, Beeston, Leonard Design Architects

This week the brand-new Arc Cinema in Beeston, Nottinghamshire opened its doors for the first time with a VIP red carpet event (27th May). Associate Director Ben Bowley attended the exclusive event and had this to say:

Arc Cinema Beeston VIP Red Carpet

It was really exciting to represent Team Leonard Design at the Red Carpet opening of the Arc Cinema in Beeston last night. This celebratory event was a significant milestone for Beeston, for the project, as well as huge positive step in the re-emergence of the arts and leisure sector in the post-Covid era.

LDA have been collaboratively working with Broxtowe Borough Council and the rest of the team (Faithful + Gould, Anderson Green, Bowmer & Kirkland, Liz Lake Associates, BWB Consulting and Tunstall Smith King) for over four years now. Beeston has always had a vibrant and individual feel by day but there hasn’t been a focal point to grow this into a successful, complementary night time offer. It has been really heartening to see Broxtowe take the brave step of taking on the role of developer to make the creation of a new night time destination reality.

It felt appropriate that last night’s opening included the screening of Somers Town by local director, Shane Meadows. I am certainly not a film buff but the film tells the tale of the growth of a strong friendship through difficult circumstances finishing on happier, more optimistic note alluding to a new future discoveries yet to be made. The film is mainly in black and white but transforms into full colour for the final sequences. The story and this change in colour in my view reflects the story of the Beeston Town Centre development.

The development process wasn’t totally smooth and it has come through a pandemic (which has had a huge negative effect on the leisure industry); so to successfully deliver the new Arc cinema and the public realm feels like a huge turning point. The commissioning of the ‘barcode’ lights, followed by the red carpet event is where the colour and optimism for an exciting future for Beeston town centre have kicked in; soon to be followed by the leasing and opening of the other units later in the year. Living nearby by, I really look forward to Beeston town centre continuing to go from strength to strength.

Information on the author:

Ben Bowley, Associate Director, Leonard Design Architects

I have lived in Nottingham for over 16 years now and have been with Leonard Design Architects for over 6 years. All through my career I have really enjoyed being part of the journey of a project from inception to completion. There is no greater thrill than being on site and seeing things that you have worked coming to fruition. When this can be done in a really collaborative way like the Beeston project it makes it all the more satisfying. I can’t wait to take my family to see a film there!