Drive-in cinema searches for new home after nine years

A drive-in cinema is searching for a new home after its owners said they have been told to leave its waterfront site after nine years.

Co-owners Karen Hall and Kevin Wood said they were "gutted" when they learned Woodside Drive-In Cinema, in Birkenhead, must leave by March 2027.

Hall said they planned to relocate and remained open at Woodside for their final Halloween and Christmas seasons, but no replacement site had yet been secured.

Merseytravel, the Liverpool City Region's public transport body which owns the site, said it was unable to comment while the process was ongoing.

Customers watch films from their cars, with the sound played through their radios, at the drive-in cinema, with Hall saying it was originally intended to be a temporary summer attraction lasting about six months in 2018.

Hall said she had not expected the cinema to be as popular as it is or remain at Woodside beyond its first summer.

"We certainly weren't expecting to stay open more than a few months over the summer," she said.

"It was just a lot more popular than we thought it was going to be."

Although the first night - which was a screening of Grease, chosen partly because of the film's famous drive-in scene - did not go entirely to plan, she said.

"It was almost like everything that could go wrong went wrong.

"The sound went wrong and then the popcorn."

A new QR code check-in system also failed because there was no signal at the site, forcing staff to check customers in with pen and paper.

She said they still use pen and paper because it "proved simpler".

She added the cinema had become an important part of some of their customers' lives over the years, with engagements, weddings and families returning with their children.

Hall said the venue had been part of about three engagements and two weddings.

"We've built up good relationships with our customers over the years.

"It has been really fun."

She recalled one proposal where the engagement ring box was placed in a popcorn order and delivered to the couple by a waitress on skates.

A montage video of photographs and personal footage of the couple was then played on the screen.

She said the man pretended there was a problem with the car window, before walking around the vehicle and proposing - customers who were there that evening celebrated by sounding their horns.

They have remained in contact with the couple since getting married.

Hall said customers started asking for Halloween and Christmas screenings, which persuaded her and Wood to continue.

She said screening now typically attracted about 50 cars, rising to the venue's 75 car capacity during October, November and December.

The cinema also holds an annual free screening of The Greatest Showman where families bring tents, chairs and BBQs.

Hall said the format also made the experience popular with some families who found a conventional cinema more difficult.

As the film's soundtrack is heard through customer's own car radio, they can choose the volume themselves.

The cinema originally had a three-year lease, which later continued on a rolling basis.

Hall and Wood have since surrendered the lease after being told Merseytravel wanted the land back.

"We didn't really have a choice," she said, but added that Merseytravel had "been really good to us", with the business paying a peppercorn rent of £1 a year.

Hall said customers had been "devastated" by the news of the move, with some suggesting possible new locations.

She said they would initially be looking for another location on the Wirral but would consider moving elsewhere if necessary.

The cinema's two members of staff are expected to move with the business, Hall added.

Hall described Woodside as the UK's "last permanent drive-in cinema" - a claim BBC News has not been able to independently verify.

She said "permanent" distinguished it from temporary drive-in events where screens and equipment were brought to a location for individual screenings. Woodside has a fixed screen and projector.

Hall added that she was "pretty much confident" the cinema would continue elsewhere.

"I can't see it being something people want to leave for good.

"But it just depends where... of if there's anything available for us."

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