They have appeared in two James Bond movies and their makers have won the Formula One World Championship seven times.

Now, in what is thought to be a UK first, a Lotus sports car is being specially commissioned as part of a new cinema in the Scottish highlands.

The serial entrepreneur behind the project hopes it will help boost Fort William's lockdown recovery.

Millionaire businessman Angus MacDonald has footed the entire cost for the independent cinema as a“gift” to the Lochaber area where he grew up. The town has been without one for 15 years.

READ MORE: The UK high streets with the biggest store closures 

Mr MacDonald, who now lives in Roshven, near Arisaig, says research had shown that the two things that can help regenerate struggling high streets are a cinema and a book shop. 

He opened the Highland Bookshop three years ago in the town centre and says the business has “flourished.”

The new two-screen cinema will screen 10 films a day opening with the same blockbuster films as London's Leicester Square, according to the businessman. It will also include an 84-seater restaurant and events space, which he hopes will boost tourism and help draw local people back into the high street.

It is also thought to be the first cinema in the UK to incorporate a real car into the seating area for an authentic “drive-in” experience. 

The businessman was staying tight-lipped on the design of the Lotus, which will be unveiled two weeks before the cinema opens in mid-September.

Lotus has previously found success in Formula One racing, via Team Lotus, and the cars famously appeared in the James Bond movies The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and For Your Eyes Only (1981).

He said: “My family have been here for a thousand years and I’ve had a great career and I wanted to do something for my home town.

“I read an article in an American newspaper many years ago which said what revitalised a market town centre was an independent book shops and a town centre cinema. We opened the Highland Bookshop three years ago and it’s flourishing. 

"The cinema will have two screens, one seating 100 people and one for 65 and we will be showing the same blockbusters as London’s Leicester Square the day we open.

READ MORE: List of Glasgow shops in administration in lockdown 

“We also have a Lotus car being made for us which is a bit of a coup. It’s a real car, everything is the same except it will be cut off behind the seats and bolted to the wall.

"Two people can sit in it and it could be a nice experience for birthdays and so on.

Mr MacDonald said moves are afoot for further improvements to the Fort William high street, which in common with others has suffered the loss of independent businesses.

He said: “If we can get 10 or 15 more shops in the high street full of things that people want to go to then the town will become much more 
vibrant."