Businessman reveals eleventh-hour bid to reopen Edinburgh’s Filmhouse cinema

An Edinburgh businessman has revealed an eleventh-hour bid to bring the city’s boarded-up Filmhouse back from the dead.

Property management specialist John Alexander is in talks with the Scottish Government, its Screen Scotland agency and the city council over a revival of the art house cinema five months after its sudden closure.

Mr Alexander is working with a group of former senior Filmhouse staff on a rescue plan which could see it reopened within months.

However his bid could be blocked by administrators selling off the Lothian Road building who are rumoured to be on the verge of a deal with a hospitality operator.

New of the potential rescue emerged as the Save the Filmhouse campaign group which was set up after the cinema was forced to cease trading in October announced plans for a protest about the fate of the building at 12 noon on Sunday.

Mr Alexander, Screen Scotland, the former Fi