Seafront cinema ticket prices ‘not subsidised’
QUESTIONS OVER VENUE’S AFFORDABLE SEATS ARE ANSWERED
REDCAR and Cleveland Council isn’t providing a financial subsidy to the new operator of Redcar’s Regent Cinema.
Merlin Cinemas was confirmed last week as the company that will run the seafront cinema, which cost £9.6m, after several months of delay. The announcement was warmly welcomed in the town, but some eyebrows were raised at the planned ticket prices amid suggestions the local authority may have provided a subsidy.
The council said the “affordable admission prices” were in fact the same as those charged at the firm’s other cinemas. Coatham ward councillor Neil Baldwin, who appeared in a video with council leader Mary Lanigan heralding Merlin’s arrival, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that Merlin “were not receiving a subsidy from the council or anybody else”, having asked the question of council chiefs himself. He said: “If you go on their website it is their standard ticket structure.”
Cllr Baldwin, an independent, said there had been interest from multiple operators in the cinema, but a tender process was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Subsequent re-runs of the process failed to come up with a bid that the council considered to be good enough. Cllr Baldwin said: “Then they went out and headhunted, if you want, who they thought would do best and
Merlin was that company.
“Merlin are more or less everything we were looking for, they are community-orientated, they have an affordable ticket structure and they are professional and experienced which is exactly what we want.”
In February, Louise Anderson, the council’s head of place development and investment, said the commercial viability of the cinema was of vital importance with affordability
a major factor. She said: “It will only stack up for [an operator] if they get bums on seats and the way to do that is to make it affordable for people to come.”
Merlin describes itself as specialising in running cinemas with restaurants in coastal or rural towns, “while becoming the beating heart of the local community”. The new cinema, which has three screens and can seat 200 people, also includes a licensed bar with spectacular sea views and an events space for the public to use.
It was handed over to the council by BAM Construction earlier this year having initially been primed to open in the spring. But the timetable began to slip with both residents and local politicians becoming frustrated at the length of time it was taking to secure an operator so the cinema, which faces the junction of Station Road and Newcomen Terrace, could open.
Former Labour group leader Carl Quartermain, who is also a Coatham ward councillor, said he was “genuinely delighted” that someone to run the Regent had been found. He said: “Merlin look to be a good fit with over 30 years of experience with this type of venue. I hope they can get it operational sooner rather than later, but I appreciate they have to go out and recruit and get the right manager in place. I cannot wait to visit.”
A spokeswoman for the council said: “We are so pleased that Merlin Cinemas will be running the Regent with their affordable admission prices, which are the same across their cinemas up and down the country.
“Merlin Cinemas offers a Magic Movie Card, which costs £12.50 per year. This discounts tickets to £6 for adults, £5.50 for senior adults and £4.50 for children, as well as 10% off food. There are also matinee screenings called ‘Mini Merlins’ where tickets cost only £2.50 for any age, as well as ‘Magic Mondays’ offering two for one for Movie Magic cardholders coming together.
“Merlin also participates in Meerkat Movies as well as the CEA card scheme, which allows people with disabilities to obtain one free ticket for a person accompanying them to the cinema. The details of the contract between the council and the operator are commercially sensitive, as is standard with agreements of this nature.”