Petition to save historic West End cinema over noise dispute

Thousands of people have signed a petition to save the historic Curzon cinema in Mayfair after developers demanded it pay for soundproofing so that luxury flats can be built above it.

Developers, 38 Curzon Ltd, are converting office space above the cinema into residential flats.

But it says noise from the films being played below can be heard, and the company is demanding the cinema foot the £500,000 bill to fix the problem.

CEO of Curzon World, Philip Knatchbull, has told ITV News that he's been "shocked" by the complaint.

"One would suspect that when you're buying a building - which the landlord did last year - you might do some homework and see that there's a cinema underneath you that likely would be causing some kind on noise," he said.

He says it would be extremely difficult to carry out the soundproofing works in any case, given the building's heritage listed status.

The dispute is likely to end up in court, and Mr Knatchbull is vowing to fight the case "tooth and nail".