| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Leisure, Entertainment & Refreshments |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Empire Studios, The Empire, Leicester Square, London, WC2H 7NA. |
| Products | Tickets, Popcorn, Alcohol, Drinks & Confectionery |
| Website | http://www.empirecinemas.co.uk/ |
Empire Cinemas Limited is a multiplex cinema chain in the UK. There are 17 Empire Cinemas with 164 screens in total, including the flagship Empire Cinema in Leicester Square, London which hosts various film premières and first-runs.
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Empire Cinemas is the sister chain of Ward Anderson who operate cinemas in Ireland. The ultimate beneficial owner of Empire Cinemas Ltd is Irish entrepreneur Thomas Anderson. Anderson also owns Image Ltd, a company which now owns the Pearl & Dean cinema advertising company, Titan Parking, Clarke Bond an engineering company based in Bristol.[1] Justin Ribbons is the current CEO.
Empire was originally a Cinema in Leicester Square in London which opened in 1884 as The Empire Theatre and was a West End variety theatre, designed by Thomas Verity.
Empire Cinemas Limited was formed in 2005 when Empire acquired the cinemas divested from Odeon Cinemas and Cineworld after the Office of Fair Trading had required them to divest 11 of the Odeon chain and six of the Cineworld chain. In 2005, both Odeon and the UK operations of UCI were taken over by Terra Firma who planned to merge the businesses under the Odeon brand. At the same time, Cineworld took over the UK and Republic of Ireland operations of UGC and began merging them into their existing Cineworld brand. Empire Cinemas Ltd acquired both groups of available cinemas and began to rebrand them all as Empire Cinemas.[2]
Empire, in conjunction with cinema chains Apollo and Showcase, publishes Escape, a bi-monthly customer magazine, distributed free at 50 cinemas. It contains film reviews, interviews and competitions.[3]
| Town/City | Number of Screens | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Basildon | 18 | 6 studio screens and 1 impact screen |
| Bishops Stortford | 6 | |
| Birmingham Great Park | 13 | 1 luxury screen |
| Bromley | 4 | |
| Clydebank | 10 | |
| Ealing | Closed for redevelopment since 5 September 2008.[4] | |
| Hemel Hempstead | 8 | |
| High Wycombe | 8 | |
| Leicester Square | 8 | |
| Newcastle Upon Tyne | 16 | To be expanded to 20, including 1 impact screen. [5] |
| Poole | 16 | |
| Slough | 10 | 1 luxury screen |
| Sunderland | 12 | Including VIP seating |
| Sutton | 6 | |
| Sutton Coldfield | 4 | |
| Swindon | 12 | |
| Wigan | 11 |
Empire Cinemas closed its Ealing cinema on 05/09/2008 and demolished the cinema in early 2009 for redevelopment, retaining the front facade. Empire have not yet started building work on the new cinema or (according to Ealing Council) presented a timescale for the building work as of 2011-07-25, so Ealing Council have been pursuing a compulsory purchase of the Ealing cinema site. At a council meeting attended by CEO Justin Ribbons on 28/06/2011, Mr Ribbons responded to the council's complaints, saying that the delay was caused by a misunderstanding between Empire and council planning officers.[6][7]
Empire Ealing
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