OVER £60,000 from the sale of a former cinema in Porthmadog has been left unclaimed.

The money is owed to local people who bought £1 shares in the cinema site which has now been sold to developers.

It is thought that many of the shareholders who have not claimed their share of the £60,000 may have moved out of the Porthmadog area or passed away.

A financial company in Liverpool says that over half of the shareholders have still not come forward to claim their money from the sale of the building to Develop UK Northern Ltd in 2014.

Cllr Jason Humphreys, who represents Porthmadog East on Gwynedd Council, said it is a shame that any unclaimed funds from the Coliseum can’t be used in the community.

He said: “I’m not surprised that there’s a sizeable surplus in unclaimed cash from the dissolution of the Coliseum.

“A lot of people bought small amounts of shares way back in 1984 and have now either moved on or passed away. In buying these shares, they considered it more as a donation to save the cinema than as an investment for personal gain.

"They were doing their bit for the town.

“I’ve been in touch with the liquidators and some 500 of the original 950 shareholders haven’t been accounted for and a number of share application forms didn’t contain precise addresses. I’m sure it would help if they were able to release more details of the register, but they can’t for legal reasons.”

If the money is not claimed, the cash will transfer to the government, who will hold it in trust for perpetuity.

See today’s Arfon/Dwyfor edition of the Cambrian News for the full story