Odeon Scarborough: New cinema operator revealed for Brunswick Shopping Centre redevelopment
A new Odeon cinema will be opening in Scarborough as the centrepiece of a major redevelopment of the town’s Brunswick Shopping Centre, it has been announced.
Plans for a new multi-screen cinema at the site were first announced back in December 2022 by real estate giant Scarborough Group International, whose chairman Kevin McCabe is based in the town.
It has now been confirmed that Odeon will be the intended operator of the cinema as part of a wider regeneration of the centre which will involve it becoming “leisure-led” with a mix of local restaurants and bars alongside national chains.
An SGI spokesperson said vacant units at the shopping centre are already being stripped out, with it hoped construction on the regeneration project can begin in early 2025 and the revamped site opening in 2027.
That would mark almost 40 years since Odeon last had a presence in Scarborough, with it previously having a cinema in the town between 1936 to 1988 where the Stephen Joseph Theatre now stands.
When the Brunswick regeneration plans were first announced in 2022, it had been hoped that the cinema could open by the end of this year but lease negotiations took longer than expected.
North Yorkshire Council has recently announced it is conducting a feasibility study to assess what level of public funding may go towards helping the redevelopment project.
SGI will launch the next phase of its letting strategy at Completely Retail Marketplace, the UK’s premier retail, leisure and hospitality event, which is taking place in London on September 24.
Mark Jackson, spokesperson for SGI, said: "Bringing Odeon back to Scarborough after an absence of more than three decades is a key milestone in our vision to transform the Brunswick Centre into a premier leisure-led destination.
“With Odeon Luxe, residents and visitors will no longer have to travel over an hour to York for a premium cinema experience, bringing greater convenience and entertainment options right to their doorstep.
“Once complete, the transformed Brunswick Centre will fill some obvious gaps in the leisure and entertainment offer in the town but, critically, will also be a catalyst for the further economic regeneration of the town centre.”
Plans for a new multi-screen cinema at the site were first announced back in December 2022 by real estate giant Scarborough Group International, whose chairman Kevin McCabe is based in the town.
It has now been confirmed that Odeon will be the intended operator of the cinema as part of a wider regeneration of the centre which will involve it becoming “leisure-led” with a mix of local restaurants and bars alongside national chains.
An SGI spokesperson said vacant units at the shopping centre are already being stripped out, with it hoped construction on the regeneration project can begin in early 2025 and the revamped site opening in 2027.
That would mark almost 40 years since Odeon last had a presence in Scarborough, with it previously having a cinema in the town between 1936 to 1988 where the Stephen Joseph Theatre now stands.
When the Brunswick regeneration plans were first announced in 2022, it had been hoped that the cinema could open by the end of this year but lease negotiations took longer than expected.
North Yorkshire Council has recently announced it is conducting a feasibility study to assess what level of public funding may go towards helping the redevelopment project.
SGI will launch the next phase of its letting strategy at Completely Retail Marketplace, the UK’s premier retail, leisure and hospitality event, which is taking place in London on September 24.
Mark Jackson, spokesperson for SGI, said: "Bringing Odeon back to Scarborough after an absence of more than three decades is a key milestone in our vision to transform the Brunswick Centre into a premier leisure-led destination.
“With Odeon Luxe, residents and visitors will no longer have to travel over an hour to York for a premium cinema experience, bringing greater convenience and entertainment options right to their doorstep.
“Once complete, the transformed Brunswick Centre will fill some obvious gaps in the leisure and entertainment offer in the town but, critically, will also be a catalyst for the further economic regeneration of the town centre.”
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hi, Chris Byrne here, Yorkshire Post Business and Features Editor. There's some exciting
00:04news for Scarborough today. Odeon is returning to the town after a near 40 year absence.
00:10It's last cinema in the town closed in 1988, but it's now been announced that the chain
00:16is due to return to Scarborough as basically the centrepiece of the big redevelopment of
00:21the Brunswick Shopping Centre that's been on the cards for a couple of years. The hope
00:26is that the big redevelopment will be done by 2027, 39 years after Odeon last operated
00:33in the town.