We don’t need another bar’: St Andrews film fans take on Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake

No more bars’: St. Andrews movie fan takes on Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake

A new art gallery in St. Andrews, Scotland. Photo: Kay Roxby/Alamy.

The independent New Picture House (NPH) cinema in the heart of St. Andrews, with its 1930s façade and distinctive gabled roof towering over neighboring restaurants and homes, has remained largely unseen for the past 94 years. has not changed.

Open seven days a week and featuring three screens, the Grade B listed building has hosted plays, public events and festivals as well as blockbuster and independent films for the best part of a century. But it will soon close and be replaced by an upscale sports bar run by two celebrities: golfer Tiger Woods and pop star Justin Timberlake. Local opposition is growing.

Days after it was announced last October, an online petition opposing the plans gathered thousands of signatures. Last month, during a peaceful protest co-sponsored by the St. Andrews Film Society and the St. Andrews Film Festival, moviegoers flocked to movie theaters in droves to watch films such as Mean Girls and American Fantasy. In an effort to ensure the showing sold out, we showed the owners: Movie theaters were economically viable.

I am so devastated that yet another public and accessible cultural venue in Scotland is at risk of closure.