Cinema chain collapses with theatres across UK to shut immediately

Locations including Bishop's Stortford, Catterick Garrison, Sunderland, Swindon, Walthamstow and Wigan will shut its doors today.

Other sites across the group will remain open, with the administrators hoping to find a buyer.

Those remaining open include: Birmingham, Clydebank, High Wycombe, Ipswich, Sutton, Bath and Cheltenham.

The already closed cinema at Sutton Coldfield will not reopen, the administrators from accounting firm BDO, announced.

According to a restructuring partner at BDO, the closures are due to "challenges for the leisure sector from the impact of COVID-19, rising inflation and the cost-of-living crisis".

Tony Nygate, John Strowger and Danny Dartnaill have been appointed as joint administrators.

Nygate said: "The well-publicised challenges for the leisure sector from the impact of COVID-19, rising inflation and the cost-of-living crisis have significantly affected the companies' business.

"The remaining open sites are continuing to trade while we explore the sale of as much of the business as possible."

Gift cards and guest passes will continue to be accepted at the open Empire cinemas.

Many businesses have struggled to cope with the affects of the Covid pandemic as lockdowns barred normal trading.

Prices have surged after post-covid supply problems and the invasion of Ukraine.

The world's second largest cinema operator, Cineworld, is also set to exit bankruptcy this month.

The chain filed for bankruptcy in the United States last year as debt piled up due to weak audience numbers caused by the pandemic.