'I've been saving cinemas - including in Leeds - for the last 40 years'

The magic of film is something that has been firmly in the spotlight for Charles Morris from a young age.

He first experienced the buzz of film exhibition at just nine-years-old when he managed to get into the projection room of his local cinema.

The “mind blowing” experience nurtured his love of him and he has taken on over a number of cinemas in the last four decades, including in Skipton, Keighley, Lancaster, Leeds, and Bowness on Windermere.

He said, even as a young boy, he enjoyed every aspect of the cinema experience.

“It was everything: it was the projectors, playing the records, the coloured lights on the screen.

“It gave me a thrill if they were getting a lot of people in for their show,” he added.

Over time, Mr Morris learnt the ropes on the 35mm film projectors, and was gradually given more responsibility in the cinema; threading film into the projector, opening the curtains, dimming the lights, and playing the records.

At age 13 on Christmas Eve, he showed his first film — Tom Thumb — completely unassisted, albeit to an audience of three.

Despite this passion, Mr Morris said his family were somewhat dismissive of him pursuing it as a career.

His father was a Liverpool solicitor who dealt with shipping matters, and his mother, one of seven, had seen her brothers out of work during the 1930s depression.

“Her attitude always was: work is not to be enjoyed, it’s to be got through, and just be thankful if you’ve got a secure job.”

Mr Morris eventually went into engineering, but continued to work as a part time projectionist wherever his job took him, working in a total of 16 cinemas over the years.

It wasn’t until 1986, when Mr Morris was married with a family, that his career in taking over cinemas would begin.

While on holiday, the family visited the Victoria Hall in Settle, which was a former cinema which still had its projection room windows at the back, although no projection equipment remained.

Mr Morris and his wife decided to hire out the hall for two months, showing films on Friday and Saturday nights with their own equipment.

To his surprise, the venture was a great success: “It was very popular indeed and I was amazed how popular it was,” Mr Morris said.

With his wife’s encouragement, Mr Morris decided to look for a permanent venue, and after months considering locations in Great Yarmouth and Buxton, was suggested The Rex in Elland by his friend, a Halifax coach driver.

Mr Morris, his friend and their families spent four months renovating the old cinema, which had been shut for five years.

The renovation was not without its challenges, however: there was an outbreak of dry rot in the floor, the screen was slashed and ruined, and some of the seats were falling apart.

On October 7, 1988, The Rex reopened, but drawing in an audience proved more difficult than at Settle’s Victoria Hall.

Mr Morris and his wife decided they would post leaflets through people’s doors in Elland, Brighouse, Ripponden, Halifax and Huddersfield every other weekend for a year in a bid to get customers through the doors.

Towards the end of their first year, they invented a 75th anniversary for the cinema — it was 77 years old — in a bid to get some publicity on ITV Calendar.

It worked, and this publicity, coupled with the release of 1989 romcom Shirley Valentine, sparked a new successful era for The Rex.

“Suddenly we were packed to the gunwales," Mr Morris said.

Choosing films which would suit a more mature audience seemed to work in the Rex’s favour, and helped to grow the cinema’s audience.

Mr Morris said: “We gradually found our niche amongst the more mature audience who appreciated that.”

“We fairly soon discovered that this place didn’t really suit teenagers.

“We always had this as a peaceful haven where people could come and enjoy the film in peace and we didn’t tolerate anyone misbehaving or disrupting the proceedings,” he added.

Mr Morris said, 40 years after choosing to take on his first cinema, he is proud to have proven the people wrong who said it wouldn’t work, adding that his wife’s encouragement was instrumental in him pursing this path.

“I might not ever have done it if it hadn’t been for her,” he said.

Asked what he was proud of, he said: “In doing it the way I think it should be done, being my own boss, and being able to experience the whole buzz on a continuous basis that I’d first experienced as a child”

“It is satisfying putting on films which people enjoy; the smiling faces.

“Generally having been able to make a living out of it against a background of people saying it will never succeed, it will never work, it will never fly, and just proving them wrong.”

Mr Morris said cinemas are no longer as profitable as they were before the pandemic, and urged people to patronise The Rex.

“It will be safe as long as people patronise it.

“It all depends on people coming through the doors,” he said.

Mr Morris plans to continue running his cinemas for as long as he can.

He said: “I will keep going as long as I can.

“I still need a purpose, and running cinemas is that purpose.”

Mr Morris was the recipient of an MBE in the 2026 New Year’s Honours List for Services to Cinema in the North of England.