A cinema in Abergavenny that has been on the market for well over a year has had its asking price slashed by a huge six-figure sum.

Baker Street Cinema, which boats two screens with well over 100 seats in each, went on the market in April 2025 after its current owners, Peter and Irene Davies, said they would be moving from the historic building which has been a cinema since 2010.

In a prominent location near Abergavenny Town Centre, Baker Street Cinema has been a go-to destination for local film fanatics for over a decade and is a dearly loved community asset.

So much so that the concept of a community purchase for the space was considered. A public meeting was attended by dozens of concerned community members, many of whom thought the loss of Baker Street as a hub for the arts would be a major blow to Abergavenny.

This resulted in the establishment of the Abergavenny Community Cinema Campaign, which even began selling shares and became an accredited community investment company (CIC). However, the group’s steering committee later made the hard decision to withdraw from the purchase due to financial difficulties.

But there was hope once again in December, when a local circus group publicly announced they were looking into buying the building as they needed a bigger space to accommodate practise and performances for their various groups.

Dance Blast, which is based at the Melville Centre, even launched a public survey to see how they could go about the purchase in a way that is sympathetic to the community and offer a public space for the arts once again. As part of that survey, there was an option to retain at least part of the building as a cinema.

Earlier this year, Christie and Co had already cut back the asking price to £500,000 from the original £625,000 that had been marketed in April 2025. Once again, the price has been cut back by a further £50,000, taking the new market price to £450,000. Despite all of the interest from the local community and its desire to see the building maintained as a centre for Abergavenny’s vibrant culture, nobody has been able to strike a deal yet.

The new price still offers a potential buyer a potentially lucrative deal or a more achievable route into creating a new community space. As well as one of the town’s largest buildings, the deal still includes all the fixtures and fittings such as Sony Digital Cinema 4K projectors and 280 seats - two screens with 160 and 120 seats inside. It had originally been priced at £625,000 last April.

The stunning building, built in 1896, began life as Abergavenny’s Drill Hall before going through a life of transformation including a DIY shop and a Dance Hall. The cinema has remained fully operational while being on the market, and will reopen after its summer break with ‘The Dog Stars’ and ‘Pressure’ this weekend on Saturday September 12.