Dover’s only cinema has welcomed its giant new rival.

The manager of the tiny Silver Screen says that the opening of the Cineworld multiplex, just a few hundred yards away, is needed for the town.

Alex Wallace said: “We are in full support of any new investment in our town and we realise you can’t hold back progress.

“From a personal perspective regarding our little community cinema we welcome the Cineworld and any new business to the town rather than watching Dover’s hard-earned money and jobs being diverted up the A2 and A20 and beyond.

“It is imperative that we all help make it a huge success story.

“The town is big enough, and growing at a fast rate, to support both of us so as to provide the inhabitants of Dover with more choice.”

Mr Wallace said that Dovorians had been “neglected for too long” and that the town has been “backstage” to Canterbury and other towns in the South East.

His statement on the Silver Screen website added: “Sometimes one would not think that we are the gateway to Europe.”

Mr Wallace’s single-screen independent cinema is the fourth smallest in the UK with just 77 seats.

It opened in 1991 and is part of the Dover Discovery Centre at Gaol Lane off Market Square.

There had been no cinema in the own in the previous few years after television took away audiences.

The six-screen Cineworld, part of the St James’ development, has 909 seats.

It will open on Friday, February 2, as one of the first businesses to start trading in the gigantic £53 million retail and leisure project.