The Arc Cinema will have a stall at Hucknall's Christmas Market this year.

Yesterday, Ashfield District Council announced that the annual festival would be making a return after being postponed in 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

As well as selling gift cards the cinema will also be selling their movie posters, the proceeds of which will go towards buying a defibrillator for the cinema.

Speaking exclusively to Hucknall Nub News Mark Gallagher, the manager of the cinema said: "Last year we weren't able to open for Christmas, so we sat in the doorway in the freezing cold selling gift cards at a reduced rate.

"We thought they'd make great Christmas presents and people came out in their droves to come see us and support the cinema. Little did they know at that time that we'd be shut for a further five months but we reopened and all those people that bought Christmas gift cards back then are still coming in now nearly a year later, spending them.

"We wanted to do the same thing again but obviously we didn't want to sit in the doorway because we're open now and so we thought it'd be a good idea to have a stall at the Christmas Market and sell them there. That way people can come down and see us, interact with us; it's a great community event.

"I've lived in Hucknall nearly 15 years and I take my kids to the Christmas Market every year it's fantastic; I really missed it last year and it's just going to be amazing to be part of it."

As well as being used against film tickets, gift cards for The Arc Cinema can also be used to buy food and drink there and they have no expiry date.

Mr Gallagher added: "As well as selling the gift cards at the Christmas Market we're going to be selling off all our old movie posters which we've been saving over the last year. The money raised from selling the posters will go towards buying a defibrillator for the cinema. This is going to be the start of our fundraising campaign, hopefully by next Christmas it could be up on the wall."