AT long last, more than 200 new seats will soon go into the auditorium at Ludlow Assembly Rooms.

In one of the most important moves since south Shropshire's premier arts venue opened its doors in 1993, the second-hand cinema seats will be replaced next year by a new generation of chairs.

"Never a week goes by without someone moaning to me about the seats," said Assembly Rooms director Paula Redway. "Having comfortable seating is going to show what we can do to welcome our customers."

The venue, which has actor Pete Postlethwaite as its patron, attracts 150,000 visitors a year to a wide range of films, concerts, plays, comic acts, art exhibitions and children's events. However, its big failing has always been the seating in the auditorium.

Now Ms Redway has secured £5,000 from South Shropshire District Council and £10,000 from the UK Film Council towards new seats. The funding takes her more than half way towards her target and she is waiting to hear the result of two further grant applications.

"Having the support of the local authority will be a big help," she said. The current plan is that the Assembly Rooms board will meet in November to decide which kind of seats to buy. The funding depends on the seats being bought by the end of March 2007. They could be in place in early spring.

A final decision will be have to be made between chairs that are either fixed, semi-fixed or flexible. One problem is that the 216 seats downstairs need to be taken up for the annual fund-raising Mega Book Sale or to provide cabaret seating for showings of classic films. They were replaced by tables and chairs for two bank holiday weekend showings of the Marx Brothers comedy A Day at the Races.

An auditorium fill of semi-fixed seats would take up to eight hours to unbolt and remove and at least as long to put back. Even flexible seats need two hours.

One possibility is making more use of Oscars, the smaller function room that already has disco facilities and an independent bar, and the Gallery on Level Five. With 120 seats Oscars might be used for the classic films, which are sponsored by Ludlow's Silk Top Hat Gallery.