The bad news for Portsmouth Film Society comes after it spent £4,000 on a proposed takeover of Lumps Fort in Southsea.
Movie lovers hoped to fill the landmark, owned by Portsmouth City Council, with a cinema, a children’s play area, two offices and a cafe.
But the authority said the plan for a refurb with a £100,000 loan from the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) was impossible – because the society does not own the building.