A cinema group has warned that the silver screen will likely disappear from Brechin if the city hall closes.
Flicks spokesman Mark Arbuthnott said the proposed closure of the city hall was “the latest volley in council leader Ian Gaul and chief executive Richard Stiff’s irrational war on the community of Brechin”.
The silver screen was brought back to the town last year by the Brechin Community Cinema Project following a partnership with FilmMobile Scotland.
Brechin had been without regular film showings since the mid-1980s and the Flicks name pays tribute to one of Scotland’s most popular nightclubs from that era.
Residents have slammed the move which could see the building shut on April 1 following the opening of the showpiece £26 million Brechin Community Campus.
The project screens its films in the city hall but Mr Arbuthnott said moving to the new community campus would be neither “suitable” nor “affordable”.
“There’s no excuse,” said Mr Arbuthnott. “Angus Alive have just cherry-picked what they want.
“Leaving the city hall out of their remit is nothing but a badly disguised and cynical attempt by Angus Council and Angus Alive to force the groups that use the city hall to move to the new community campus which, certainly in the cinema’s case, is neither suitable nor, we suspect, affordable.
“This is just the latest volley in council leader Ian Gaul and chief executive Richard Stiff’s irrational war on the community of Brechin.
“How else can they explain their relentless campaign to rip the heart out of our town?”
The group said projection equipment is not suitable for cinema at the new campus.
They also say the new venue would not be able to accommodate their own projector and equipment even if they wanted to move there, which they say they do not.
Mr Arbuthnott said the cinema was given no indication that the city hall’s closure was on the cards.
The March 27 showing at the city hall will be the last unless it can be saved.
The cinema now wants to be at the forefront of any campaign to keep the city hall open and “out of the hands of the vandals and incompetents at Angus Council”.
The city hall’s future has long been a worry for the town, with a questionnaire on that subject issued in 2013.
Alarm bells were raised again this year when the public was unable to book the four-storey building beyond March 31.
Fears were also raised by the public that the building was being left to rot with the state of the decor a major talking point.
Angus Council said it will be meeting with members of the community to discuss the options for the operation of Brechin City Hall.
A spokesman said: “It is our intention to work with the local residents to try and establish a position where community use of the hall can continue.”