A humble Wellington home unchanged for four decades hides a secret in its backyard: a 38-seat cinema that even some of the capital’s keenest movie buffs will never have heard of – until now.

The Time cinema (housed in a large garden shed) has been a decades-long hobby for one resident of New Zealand suburbia, screening classic and nostalgic films, in particular British and American comedies from the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

Furnishing it with donations from friends and choice finds in local thrift shops, John Bell, 74, operates the projector and “talks too much” with visitors, while his wife Margaret serves food and drinks.

Now the couple are looking for someone to carry on their legacy.

“I have always loved the movies’ ability to bring people together, as a social tool, a shared experience,” says Bell, who built most of the cinema himself.

“We like to screen old classics that take the audience back to their childhood, that spark memories and make people feel younger.”

The Time cinema – screening classics including British and American comedies of yesteryear – is going on the market along with the house. Photograph: Grant Down/Harcourts

Bell grew up in the suburb of Island Bay and learned the art of cinema projection “by observation”.

“In my younger days I spent a lot of time in projection boxes and learnt through trial and error,” he said.

Exterior of the Bells’ unassuming Wellington home – ‘It’s such a movie city but our cinema is still quite secret.’ Photograph: Grant Down/Harcourts

New Zealand’s capital is home to Weta Workshops and director Peter Jackson’s Park Road post-production house. People arriving at the international airport are welcomed to “Middle Earth” and the central city streets are decorated with dragons, wizards and orcs from The Lord of The Rings.

“It’s such a movie city but our cinema is still quite secret,” said Bell.

“That’s why people love it when they come – it feels special because it is such a surprise.”

Harcourts real estate agent Steven Zee, who is selling the property, said the online listing had attracted thousands of page views and dozens of serious queries, including one from a local who wants to crowdfund to buy the cinema and keep it open to the public.

Zee suggested Peter Jackson, whose office is right down the road, might be interested.

“It is an extremely unique property, I was blown away when I walked down the garden path and found a cinema in the shed,” Zee said.

John Bell, 74, has amassed shelves of movie memorabilia. Photograph: Grant Down/Harcourts

Bell doesn’t like the word “downsizing” but admits he and Margaret will be moving to a smaller home, on flatter ground. As they haven’t bought another house yet, he is unsure which cinema will become his local – but if Time falls into the right hands, he’d like to keep watching the flicks there.

“I want this [cinema] to go on forever. Margaret and I know we won’t, so selling up means it possibly can.”

