A SOUTH Lakeland picture house is enjoying a spell in the limelight after being crowned as the UK's top independent cinema.

Zeffirellis Cinema in Ambleside received the accolade at the annual conference of RAAM, a specialist management consultancy serving the cinema exhibition sector.

Dorothy Smith, a director of Zeffirellis, was presented with the award in front of an invited audience of leading film distributors and cinema owners and operators at London's Mayfair Hotel on Thursday night.

RAAM invited all UK film distributors - companies like Warner Bros, Buena Vista and Universal - to nominate independent cinemas for the award, and Zeffirellis emerged as the clear winner this year, beating off competition from hundreds of cinemas nationwide. It had been shortlisted for the award along with cinemas in Dorset and St Andrews.

For the full story, read The Westmorland Gazette