Press Release

Monday 25 April 2022

The Roxy Collective has been formed by a group of local people to purchase the Roxy building and maintain the businesses already there: The iconic Roxy Cinema, the world-renowned Laurel and Hardy Museum, the U-Gym Ulverston, and 808010 Productions.

The most urgent first task is to purchase the freehold of the building. When the building is secured, work will start to restore it, opening up more spaces for the community and making it fully accessible for everybody.

Ulverston BID board unanimously voted in favour of supporting the Roxy Collective this week, agreeing a £50k grant to help match fund their efforts to purchase the

Roxy building and protect the future of an independent cinema and museum. One of the agreed proposals by The Roxy Collective was to provide an official home for Ulverston’s Tourist Information Centre.

The Roxy Collective is now well placed to move forward but urgently needs the support of the community and business to make it happen. Michelle Scrogham, Chair of Ulverston BID, said:

 “The Art & Culture sector is very much the cornerstone of any successful Town, more so than ever in recent years with changing shopping habits impacting footfall, and people searching for a social experience. The Roxy has always had a special place in the hearts of locals and visitors, and I was impressed by the ambitious community-based plan and public support for this endeavour.”

 The Roxy Collective’s Crowdfunder Campaign, ‘The Future of The Roxy’, has already reached its initial target of £20,000, and they now hope to reach their stretch target of £30,000. Suzanne Garnett, Chair of the group, says, “The more we can generate through Crowd Funding, the more chance we have of purchasing the building quickly and moving on to phase two. The campaign is due to end on May 2^nd.

Support from the community will help to reassure other funders who expect to see community engagement and local funding. The Roxy Collective is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company (CIC). The group has set out a three-phase plan;

• to purchase the building.
• to renovate it.
• collaborate with the local people in developing its community initiatives

Suzanne Garnett, Chair of The Roxy Collective, reflects on the group’s project;

‘The Roxy is an important and much-loved part of Ulverston and has been for over 80 years. We feel privileged to be part of such a caring and creative community. We look forward to working closely with the Roxy building’s fantastic existing tenants and celebrating and championing new art, new experiences, new collaborations, and new stories.’

 For any further details or if you have an interest in becoming involved, please contact The Roxy Collective: The Roxy, Brogden Street, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 7AH
e: admin@the-roxy.org| w: the-roxy.org | t: 01229 486922

Monday 4 April 2022

The Roxy Collective has been formed by a group of local people to purchase the Roxy building and maintain the businesses which are already there: The iconic Roxy Cinema, world renowned Laurel and Hardy Museum, the U-Gym Ulverston and 808010 Productions.

The most urgent first task is to purchase the freehold of the building.  When the building is secured, work will start to restore it, opening up more spaces for the community and making it fully accessible for everybody.

Ulverston Town Council has granted The Roxy Collective the sum of £50,000 towards the project, which is just over a quarter of the asking price. The project has the full cooperation of the current owners. The Roxy Collective is now well placed to move forward but urgently needs the support of the community and business to make it happen. Mayor of Ulverston Cllr Bob Brown said:

‘Ulverston Town Council is delighted to support The Roxy Collective in its plans to purchase and restore this much loved and iconic building and secure it for the town. We were very pleased to be able to offer a £50,000 grant towards the total purchase price of the building, which has come from our Community Infrastructure levy pot of funding; this is a levy on developers who build locally and can be used for capital projects such as this. We wish The Roxy Collective committee every success as they bid for other grants and I hope that this appeal to the community through a crowd funding initiative is highly successful as well.  It will really show other funders how important this building is to the community.’

The Roxy Collective now urgently needs the community’s support with the Crowd Funding scheme, called The Future of the Roxy, which the group has launched today 4 April 2022.

The initial crowd funding target is £20,000 with a stretch target of £30,000, but as Suzy Garnett, Chair of the group says ‘The more we can generate through Crowd Funding, the more chance we have of purchasing the building quickly and moving on to phase two.’

Support from the community will help to reassure other funders who expect to see community engagement and local funding.  Formed by local residents, The Roxy Collective is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company (CIC). The group has set out a three-phase plan;

• to purchase the building.
• to renovate it.
• collaborate with the local people in developing its community initiatives

Suzanne Garnett, Chair of The Roxy Collective, reflects on the group’s project;

‘The Roxy is an important and much-loved part of Ulverston and has been for over 80 years. We feel privileged to be part of such a caring and creative community and look forward to working closely with the Roxy building’s existing fantastic tenants, and also celebrating and championing new art, new experiences, new collaborations and new stories.’

Join Us!

The Roxy Collective is excited to share its plans, discuss the work that has already taken place and have an open conversation with local people and businesses at a public drop-in session at The Laurel and Hardy Museum on Thursday 21 April from 6pm to 9pm.

For any further details or if you have an interest in becoming involved, please contact The Roxy Collective: The Roxy, Brogden Street, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 7AH
e: admin@the-roxy.org | w: the-roxy.org | t: 01229 486922

Ulverston Mayor Cllr Bob Brown with Cinema Owner Charles Morris, The Roxy Collective Chair Suzanne Garnett, Kamil Bitner from U-Gym, and Matthew Cooper from The Laurel and Hardy Museum.