THE fate of the Carlton Cinema will be decided when it is to be sold by auction next month.

The sale, which will be handled by Kivells, will take place in the actual cinema auditorium on Thursday, April 29 at 12.30pm.

Associate partner of Kivells Tavistock office, Rupert Noy Scott said the forthcoming auction was already attracting a lot of interest in the premises, which has a guide price of £200,000.

The 270-seater property in the town centre was forced to close last October due to the sudden illness of owner John Pope.

But although he originally hoped to reopen the cinema and continue running it himself Mr Pope, 60, has decided for health reasons to take early retirement.

?I had to make a clean break because I have to concentrate 100% on getting my fitness back. Reality has had to take over from sentiment,? he said from his home in Treetops, Tavistock.

Mr Noy Scott said a third of the enquiries received by Kivells so far were from people looking to reinstate it as a cinema.

?Some had a view of making it a two screen unit instead of one, possibly with the backing of national companies,? he said.

?Other people wish to see the building as it is but use it for public access. Music and theatre groups are also looking to use it.?

Mr Noy Scott said other would-be purchasers were looking at alternative forms of re-development such as a bowling alley or car parking.

?We are not selling it with any consent other than that which already exists. How it is used after the sale is the prerogative of the purchaser, subject to what the planners will let them do,? he said.

Mr Pope has run the cinema with a small nucleus of helpers for the past 30 years. His father William Pope, who was a film buff, built it in 1937.

John Pope took over the running in 1970. ?The whole thing interested me ? the projecting, booking and the films.?

Mr Pope said if anyone wanted to continue running the premises as a cinema he would ?approve? of such a move. But he added it would need ?an enormous commitment?.

?The building may still remain a cinema, but equally it may not. It depends on who buys it.?

He said as one of the last individual cinemas in the country, it would not have continued to exist under normal circumstances had it not ?been run on such a shoestring?.

?There were the regulars who came week in and week out. That was what kept the place open and we were grateful to them.?

Despite being in a world of multi-screen chains the Carlton always managed to secure the latest films within about four weeks of release ? which was quite a coup for a small independent cinema.

Mr Pope has always been a film enthusiast but said films made this side of 1980 have not been amongst his all time-favourites.

?The golden age of films for me was the 1950?s and 60?s ? but it depends on the person and what age you are,? he said.