I am a volunteer at The Cinema Museum, I love film, cinema and what those shared experiences can mean for people and how it brings people together. The old Lambeth Workhouse where filmmaker Charlie Chaplin spent some of his childhood has been home to The Cinema Museum for 20 years. That local historic film connection makes it a perfect home for us. Despite numerous attempts to buy the building over the years and promises in writing from SLaM (South London and Maudsley NHS Trust) that they would sell it to the Museum for a fair and independent price, SLaM have sold the larger piece of land upon which our museum sits, to property developers (Anthology Limited – now Lifestory) who plan to build flats on the site. 

On their website, where they made the announcement about the sale they said the following:

‘London property company, Anthology, has acquired a 1.75 acre site on Dugard Way in Lambeth with the commitment to support renowned, The Cinema Museum, existing residents of the Grade II listed Master’s House situated at the Woodlands site.’

They also say “We look forward to working in partnership with the Board of Trustees of the Cinema Museum to ensure the successful development of Woodlands and The Master House site.”

The Museum is entirely run by volunteers at no cost to the public purse and it has a committed following – proven when the Museum recently won the Time Out Love London award.

We call on Steve Bangs of Anthology and their funders, Oaktree Capital Management to keep their promise, be fair to the Museum who have provided vital community services (as well as housing the countries most significant collection of cinema memorabilia) and agree to work with us to find a solution that guarantees not just their sale profits, but also our sustainable future.

We ask those with the power - Anthology/Lifestory; Lambeth Council; the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority (GLA) - to work with The Cinema Museum and the local community to put an end to the years of damaging uncertainty and agree a sustainable future for everyone on site. (added Feb 2020)

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