Stoke Newington and Dalston have many attractions, as this magazine attests, but a broad, cinemagoing experience is not one of them. To see the latest blockbuster usually entails a visit to the Warner complex in Islington where West End prices prevail, or an expedition to the outpost known as Edmonton.

However, there are plans…A consortium, Chelverton, is looking to include a four-screen multiplex as part of a £40 million development in alston located between Roseberry Place and Beechwood Road on the south side of Dalston Lane.

The council rejected the initial planning application, but Chelverton was invited to submit a new application to ‘show that the design of the finished product would be of high quality’. It’s odds-on that a second application to address such concerns will be submitted shortly.

But not everyone in N16 and its environs is jumping for joy at the prospect of a new cinema. In fact, Mr Charles Rubenstein, manager of Dalston’s Rio Cinema, is so not jumping for joy that he’s launched a campaign to thwart Chelverston’s plans. The Rio’s case is that, while acknowledging their ‘unique’ programming of arthouse and minority films, they need the revenue generated from their mainstream offerings to survive, and that a multiplex cinema in close proximity would threaten this revenue stream.

But surely the Rio has its own audience and one that is unlikely to be attracted to the popcorn atmosphere of a multiplex? I put this to Rubenstein, who admits that not even he is sure on this point: ‘A new cinema will change things in the area but it’s difficult to predict how. Our main concern is that a multiplex, or miniplex in this case, will be able to offer distributors a long run on films, whereas we can guarantee only a two-week maximum. This could mean that we will be frozen out, as the distributors will not want a film to be shown in two cinemas so close to each other. Although foreign films do pretty well for us, we need the revenue films like Minority Report and Spider Man produce.’

But couldn’t the two cinemas complement each other to create a cinema-going culture in the area? ‘It’s possible’, he acknowledges, ‘but at the   moment it’s difficult to say; it’s such a long way off. A lot will depend on their programming. If the mainstream films over a particular period are not that interesting, then they may start showing sub-titled films like City of God, in which case we would be seriously threatened. We launched an objection because it was either that or doing nothing, and we didn’t feel we could stand by and watch our existence threatened.’

No one who has ever been to the Rio would surely want to see its existence threatened. But then who would want to deny the rights of the community to see films of their choice in a convenient location? The best hope, perhaps, is that rather than seeing this in adversarial terms, Goliath, for once, will be able to co-exist with David.