The following email was sent to the Astor‘s mailing list by its proprietor.
To All Our Loyal Patrons,
You may have read or heard in the media recently of plans to change ownership of The Astor Theatre. This has been somewhat misrepresented as us “closing down”.
This is far from the case.
We are looking to find an entity to take over the running of The Astor as well as purchase the freehold. This would give the freedom to invest further capital into the venture, to re-generate what is a unique and original theatre, and to re-launch it with a fresh, new outlook.
My involvement has seen the culmination and fruition of a life-long dream – and a labour of love. It has been very gratifying that well over one and a half million patrons have passed through our doors in the years since we opened in our current format. That so many identified with this “real-cinema experience” is deeply appreciated – it re-inforced my firm belief that the Astor needed to be saved and preserved as a living museum to cinema-going at its grandest.
May I take this opportunity to thank all our patrons, staff, suppliers and friends for their support, and remind you that without your support The Astor would not exist.
We will keep you updated with developments as they happen.
Yours Sincerely,
George Florence
Proprietor
I guess that’s good news and we can still look forward to seeing you in our fair city then Star?
Well – I won’t be rushing out there tomorrow (as much as I’d love to) – but a trip to the Astor is definitely among my future plans. And if I can meetup with some other Astor fans, all the better. 🙂
I was [almost] devastated to read your post last week about the Astor (although, it did also help to answer the question that I had been pondering each time I closed the toilet door, “Where is the new Astor calendar?”), and I am pleased to read this update – it’s enough to spur me on to actually go to the showings that take my fancy, not just think about or talk about going.