Now on sale on eBay for £120,000 as parents no longer have time to run the cinema which has 'taken over our lives'

Re-united with lost trailer after 23 years thanks to call 'out of the blue' - which had been being used as a wood shop

Since then it has toured the country showing vintage footage and even starred in TV and radio programmes


Britain's only surviving mobile cinema has gone on sale for £120,000 as the owners who spent years of their life restoring it and touring the country now want to enjoy parenthood.

Emma Giffard, 36, and Ollie Halls, 37, from Somerset, bought the cinema for just £1,200 in 2005 and spent £35,000 on restoring the vintage classic with friends in Devon over five years.

They toured the country with the classic bus which became a celebrity, starring alongside Melvyn Bragg in a 20-part BBC2 series 'The Reel History of Britain and in 'George Clarke's Amazing Spaces'.

Restored: Britain's last-ever mobile cinema has been brought back to its former glory after film buffs found it rotting in a field in 2005

But now the pair have decided the time has come to sell the bus, which has taken over their lives for more than a decade.

'We've got two children under three,' Emma said.

'Sometimes my mother-in-law comes along and looks after the kids on whatever event site we're on but it's getting to be too hard with the two of them getting bigger.'

After years on the road, the couple had their first baby Iona May Giffard Halls in 2012 and five months ago, they're second arrived, Ivy.

Since then, Ollie has had to spend five months a year on tour while Emma stays at home with the children and he's now looking forward to having more time with Iona and Ivy.

Love affair: Emma and Ollie outside the Bedford cinema which has taken over their lives since they restored it ten years ago

Iona May Giffar Halls, two and a half years old, sits outside the mobile cinema. Her parents are looking to offload the classic so they can concentrate on being parents to her and sister Ivy, five months old. Dad Ollie doesn't want to be on tour as they grow up

Happy families: Mum Emma with Iona May, left, and Ivy, right. The family have just bough they're first home in Somerset

'I'll miss being on the road and that diversity but if I didn't give it up, I'd miss my children growing up and spending social time with them which is more important than the bus.'

It's now listed on eBay for £120,000 which is 100 times what they originally bought it for, but it's not just a bus, it's a piece of British history, listed as 'the soul survivor' of the original fleet.

It's one of just seven mobile cinemas originally commissioned by the Ministry of Technology in 1967, to promote British industry as a global leader by visiting factories to show films about modernisation.

With a plastic perspex bubble at the front and a Tardis-like interior with a 26-seater cinema inside, the Bedford SB3 looked like something from the future as they toured the country promoting the 'white heat of technology'.

The vintage mobile cinema is one of just seven mobile cinemas originally commissioned by the Ministry of Technology in 1967

A piece of history: This was how the buses were advertised when they toured factories to promote British industry in the 1960s

Super seven: The vintage is the soul survivor of a fleet of seven and was rescued from a field in Essex where it sat for 14 years

Promoting industry: Bosses and workers at factories would enter the visiting bus to learn about the 'white heat of technology'

But like all modern creations, soon enough they grew old and it wasn't long before this particular cinema was on the road to being forgotten.

It was owned by the Transport Trust between 1975 and 1990 but after that it sat in a field in Essex for 14 years until it was rescued by a previous owner based in Somerset.

In 2005, Ollie Halls and Emma Giffard of the Vintage Mobile Cinema Company bought it for just £1,200 and brought it to Devon, where they carefully restored it with the help of friends.

They spent £35,000 on the restoration which put the vintage cinema back on the road and touring a series of shows at North Devon schools and villages and beyond.

From there it went on to exhibit at film festivals, community, corporate and private events around the UK and abroad, travelling as far as Holland and France.

Listed: The rare Bedford mobile cinema was fully restored between 2005 and 2010 and is now on offer on eBay for £120,000

Oliver and Emma are hoping that someone else might take up the mantle and continue touring the bus but at this point the future of the cinema is uncertain.

Ollie said: 'It could go any which way - a collector in this country or abroad, someone wanting to run the business, or a group putting together a bid to bring it into a trust.

'I really want it to continue to be out there for people to be able to carry on sharing the experience.

'But we have to decide what route is going to best secure its future, because it's completely unique and owning it means that we're custodians of that little bit of history.

Government property: The fleet of Bedford SB3s as they were when they toured the country promoting industry in the 1960s

'It was never meant to be a career - I just started doing it up as a hobby and it got out of control.

'I was working full time and spending all my spare time and spare money on the bus, lying in the mud in a freezing cold shed wondering if I'd gone mad.

'But people just loved everything about it, which made all the blood, sweat and tears worthwhile.

'They don't make things like this anymore, and it speaks to people's sense of nostalgia.

'It was so popular that it absolutely and 100 per cent took over my life - and it's been hard to give up to because so many people still want the bus.'

There's also a new edition which could be a different opportunity to a new owner.

The vehicles originally towed huge exhibition trailers and remarkably the cinema has now been reunited with its trailer - after being separated for 23 years.

Re-united: The owners got a call 'out of the blue' from someone who knew where the buses trailer was after they had been separated for 23 years. Now the pair have come together again - but the trailer is a restoration project in itself for the new owner

'We got a phone call out the blue,' said Ollie.

'Someone saw us on the news and realised that the trailer their friend had been using as a woodwork shop belonged with our cinema.

'It's taken a few years but we've finally put them back together.'

Ollie had been promised the trailer from an owner sympathetic to their project around four years ago but when he finally got it, it's actually what convinced the family to part with the bus.

'It's a huge restoration which I don't think I want to do because I have a number of other projects that I'm hoping to work on.

'We've just bought our first house in Somerset which is a restoration project and I've also got a 1940s caravan and another 1960s Bedford truck to work on.

'I'm the kind of guy who likes a challenge but I feel like the bus is done now and I want to work on something new - I've been doing it most of my adult life.

'They drive beautifully together but the trailer is another restoration project - maybe this time for someone else.'

Mod cons: Inside the cinema is far from vintage with a full HD projector and Dolby surround sound

The vintage piece is advertised as the 'only surviving' member of a fleet of seven and has 26 1930s-style seats - as well as a few modern tweaks.

The projection kit is full HD, with a 7.1 Dolby surround sound, complemented by sound proofing fitted to 'limit external disturbances'.

There's also climate control, delivering hot and cold air 'for the comfort of the audience'

Ollie and Emma hope that the cinema will remain in use for the people of Britain to enjoy.

And although the price-tag is high, potential buyers won't get another opportunity to buy this piece of British history.

'It's one of a kind,' Emma said.