Cinema at Durham's Gala Theatre faces uncertain future after competition from Odeon and Everyman

The arts centre has had to fight hard to get film fans through the doors following a marketing blitz by Odeon, which opened in the 2019.

And with boutique chain Everyman set to open a cinema in the planned riverside Milburngate development bosses have admitted they face a ‘struggle to be competitive’.

“The Odeon came out quite aggressively, they actually undercut us on some ticket prices,” said Helen Ross, strategic culture manager at Durham County Council, which runs the venue.

“We’ve reduced our ticket prices and retained a reasonable amount of our cinema audience, but the expectation is as more people cross the river we might see that diminish.

“Although we’ve retained 75-80% of attendees, we’ve lost income because we’ve cut ticket prices.”

Ross was speaking at a meeting of the county council’s Environment and Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

She added: “We can look at whether we keep one screen or both, whether we turn the space into something else – we hope in the next few months to have an idea of direction.”

While the cinema may give Gala bosses cause for concern they can at least console themselves with the strong performance of the venue’s theatre.

The 2019 pantomime was its most successful since the theatre opened in 2000, selling 33,451 tickets and pulling in nearly £350,000.

Speaking at the meeting, Liberal Democrat opposition councillor Mark Wilkes asked whether more could be done to entice the ‘massive captive audience’ of Durham University’s foreign student population to the cinema for screenings of foreign-language films.

But Ross said previous attempts at hosting seasons of foreign or classic movies had failed to build a sustainable audience, with many customers preferring to go to newer cinemas in Newcastle.

She added: “We’re talking millions-plus to refurbish those cinema spaces and we don’t know whether if we refurbish the whole building we could be competitive anyway.”