Campaigners who want a former bingo hall to become a cinema are holding a fundraising dinner to fund their fight.

The Picture Palace Campaign is staging the banquet and concert on Saturday, October 16, at the St John the Evangelist Church in Auckland Road, Upper Norwood.

The Victorian themed night will see guests served a four-course meal, fine wines and cocktails, and entertainment provided in the form of bands, opera, spoken word, silhouette artists and magicians.

The campaign group, which has thousands of backers, wants the old Gala bingo hall in Church Road, a former cinema, to be converted in to a silver screen.

City Screen, which owns the Picturehouse chain of cinemas, was outbid last May to buy the venue by evangelical church Kingsway International Christian Centre.

The church had its application to turn the building into a place of worship turned down last December.

Visit campaign.picture-palace.org for more information on the campaign.