GIANT pub chain J D Wetherspoon this week denied it had bought the Carlton Cinema in Okehampton ? but confirmed it is interested in moving into the town.
The cinema was forced to close in October last year, following the illness of owner John Pope. Just before the building was due to be auctioned, the art deco style building was snapped up by a buyer who paid in excess of the £200,000 asking price.
Eddie Gershon, press spokesman for J D Wetherspoon, said the company had been interested in the site ? but another organisation had bought it.
?It?s one of those commercial situations ? someone got in with an earlier or better bid,? said Mr Gershon, who added that Wetherspoon was ?still 100% looking? for suitable premises in Okehampton.
Rupert Noy-Scott, of Kivells, who handled the sale of the Carlton, said: ?Certainly Wetherspoons sent somebody to look at the Carlton ? but they didn?t buy it.?
Mr Noy-Scott said he could not reveal who had bought the building at this stage ? nor did he know what the buyers intended to do with it.
A meeting to discuss the future of film shows in the town following closure of the cinema is due to take place in the Ockment Centre tonight (Thursday), starting at 7pm.