I'm not surprised that Cathay Cinema has closed down. They banked on the heritage value of the building with little regard to important things such as making the cinema and its restaurants accessible to the residents of Mt Sophia and Mt Emily neighbourhood, representing 2,000+ customers who have the cash to spend.

In the past, Cathay Cinema easy allowed access to the residents of the area through a level access entrance on Mt Sophia. It enabled residents to easily take the lift from Mt Sophia to Handy Road. That level had a restaurant and pub. It also enabled the residents to go to the cinema and its restaurants, and other shops easily.

However after their expensive renovation, Cathay Cinema in its wisdom, removed the access points and replaced it with the dark and steep 250 step on the side. It basically blocked access to its own customers! All the residents from Mt Sophia, Mt Emily, Adis Road were not able to gain access. It was an absolutely appalling business decision.

This deterred residents from going to Cathay Cinema and the other shops inside the building. It was an own-fault. Cathay cinema had a ready and well to do market in this area but it decided it wasn't interested in them. They literally destroyed a huge segment of their own customer base.

No wonder their reconstruction plan was a mega failure.