INSIDE SUTTON: A week after the last picture show at the council-subsidised cinema, why is Councillor Barry ‘Basher’ Lewis dodging serious matters of genuine public interest? By CARL SHILTON
Old pals act: cinema boss Preston Benson and Sutton Council leader Barry ‘Basher’ Lewis (right) now both have records of corporate failures that left huge debts
Throwley Yard Cinema in central Sutton staged its very own “Last Picture Show” on November 9, less than 18 months after it was opened with close to £3million of council cash and public grants.
The four-screen cinema off Sutton High Street was the last surviving venue in the portfolio of the struggling Really Local Group Ltd, which has collapsed under the weight of a pile of unpaid debts.
It is reckoned that Sutton Council could be owed as much as £90,000 by the failed cinema operators in unpaid rents.
Sutton is just the latest in a series of subsidised venues closed by Really Local Group: late last year, when they closed their Catford cinema, they owed Lewisham Council £387,000.
The cinema’s parent company formally went into administration last week – dodging a High Court winding-up order from one of their creditors.
It’s been widely reported that among those owed money by Really Local Group are long-suffering and hard-working staff, many of whom say they worked without being paid for significant periods of time.
Ahead of Throwley Yard’s closure, Sutton Council did manage to issue a statement saying that they expected to announce a new tenant, soon.
But the Liberal Democrat-controlled council’s leader, Barry “Basher” Lewis, an enthusiastic supporter of Really Local Group and its American entrepreneur founder, Preston Benson, has been silent over the venue’s future, and failed to answer a series of questions regarding the safeguarding of local authority finances from any potential “phoenix” operation which Benson might try to establish at Throwley Yard and his other failed cinemas in and around London.
We submitted our questions before Really Local Group’s administration was announced. Councillor Lewis has failed to reply to any of them.
These are the questions that ‘Basher’ Lewis refuses to answer…
- Why did you, and the council’s senior finance officials, ignore repeated warnings about the financial state of the Really Local Group, even at the contract award stage?
- How much rent due to the council remains unpaid?
- What measures will the council be taking to ensure that council property in the building is not removed from the building?
- The council has said it is looking for a new tenant. What do you have in mind?
- Can you give an undertaking to the people of Sutton that the council will not enter into a tenancy agreement for the site with any kind of “phoenix” company linked to Really Local Group or its directors?
- Has the council made any financial claims against either Really Local Group or the Windy City subsidiary that ran Throwley Yard?
One report suggested that Benson had been using PR agencies to spin his version of events, but that he left at least one company unpaid for its services…
PR unspun: Preston Benson was failing to pay the bills from one firm of publicists
Benson has said that in the past year, he has repaid £400,000 to creditors, including employees and film distributors.
In one report about Benson’s London-wide operation, which appeared after Inside Sutton had exposed the precariousness of the finances of Throwley Yard, a source who was said to have worked with the businessman said, “I think he believed his own hype.
“I don’t think he was planning to scam anyone. I just don’t think he was planning at all.”
That report also laid out how Throwley Yard had been unable to show some of the country’s most popular films because distributors withheld new releases over unpaid debts. “Last Christmas staff spent their time turning away families coming to see animated blockbuster Moana 2 because Disney hadn’t been paid,” London Centric reported.
Benson was quoted as saying: “I’ve been working non-stop for almost a year to get investment into the business to get to a level where we can repay these historic debts.
“We’re doing our best.” That was before he closed Throwley Yard and took Really Local Group into administration. Benson failed to respond to Inside Sutton’s questions.
As we broke the news of Throwley Yard’s closure, Sutton Council managed to provide a platitudinous statement: “The council and government investment was used for the refurbishment of Throwley Yard which had been vacant since 2013.
“The Council now has a fully refurbished venue ready to re-let.
“The council entered into an agreement for lease with the Really Local Group in September 2023 and the refurbishment of the space commenced. The closures of other sites took place after this. Peckham Levels went into administration in September 2024; and the Ealing Project and Catford Mews entered administration in October 2024.
“As always in these cases, the council is in touch with the administrations.
“Although it is sad that the Really Local Group is no longer operating, the legacy of this project is that there is a fully equipped cultural venue that the council will have a new occupant for shortly.”
Read more: Throwley Yard to close as company goes into administration
Read more: Sutton staff kept Kingdom revenue deal secret from councillors
Read more: Council hired ‘Real’ builders and dodged Grenfell grants ban
FREE ADS: Paid-up subscribers to Inside Croydon qualify for a free ad for their business, residents’ association or community group, just one of the benefits of being part of our online community. For more information about being an iC subscriber, click here for our Patreon page
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
Maybe it’s because lewis is totally out of his depth and should step down, to make way for a proper, competent person?