THE family of the men who created the former EMD Cinema are backing the campaign to stop the venue being converted into a church.

Brothers Cecil and Sidney Bernstein founded the Granada cinemas empire in 1930 and the Walthamstow site was one of their first projects.

The McGuffin Film Society has been contacted by Sidney Bernstein's nephew Toby Stone, who has backed efforts to get the historic venue re-opened as an entertainment venue.

Mr Stone said: "My family and I are very concerned to hear that the cinema might cease to be a place of entertainment and become a church.

"The building was intended to bring the community together and to raise local access to culture and entertainment.

"It was always meant to be somewhere open to everyone. If it becomes a church then clearly that purpose is completely lost.

"It would be very sad for Waltham Forest if such a long and important tradition now falls by the wayside through the outcome of a planning decision."

The Bernstein brothers, from Ilford, built more than 50 cinemas around the country and founded Granada Television.

They were also friends and collaborators of legendary director Alfred Hitchcock, with whom they formed Transatlantic Pictures in 1948.

McGuffin spokesman Bill Hodgson said: "We are delighted the Bernstein family is throwing their weight behind efforts to save the EMD.

"We want to see a cinema operator given the opportunity to steer the venue into the 21st century as successfully as the Bernstein's did in the 20th."

Alfred Hitchcock's daughter Patricia Hitchcock-O'Connell and Rock legend Mick Jagger have also written to the McGuffins to voice her support for the campaign to save the cinema.

The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) is awaiting a decision by the council's planning committee on whether it can convert the venue into a building for religious use.