A POPULAR cinema chain with dozens of branches will permanently leave one of its theaters today, leaving moviegoers devastated.
The owner of Picturehouse has shown that he will lower the shutters of his Stratford East branch for the last time.
In a heartfelt message on Facebook, Picturehouse wrote: “After years of really brilliant cinema, we are very sad to say that our doors are closed for the last time today, Sunday, July 28.
“We would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to all our glorious consumers for all these years and for sharing their love of cinema with us. “
Several moviegoers commented on the publication sharing their sadness at the closure of popular cinema.
“I have so many memories,” said one.
Another moviegoer wrote: “It’s sad to see you go. The staff were friendly. “
A former Picturehouse worker said: “I worked here for about 7 years and met a lot of friends too.
“It’s a shame to see that it’s closing. “
“A lot of smart trips here with the kids,” says one regular.
“Good luck to everyone who has taken care of us over the years. “
It comes after Cineworld, which operates the cinema chain, announced that it would be closing the Picturehouse location in Bromley.
Closing will take place on August 1. The Fulham Road Picturehouse closed its doors to smart on July 11.
A Picturehouse spokesman said the company had made the difficult decision to close the three cinemas due to “increasing operating prices and declining admissions”.
They said, “Picturehouse members will be contacted in the coming days about the remaining time at their club. ”
The Picturehouse club program is chargeable and opens the door to free movie tickets, as well as discounts on food and drink.
The spokesman said Picturehouse had opened three new cinemas in the last six months in Ealing, Chester and Epsom.
However, Picturehouse is the only major cinema chain to close its branches permanently.
Many major theater chains have struggled after the pandemic, as consumers have become accustomed to streaming movies from home.
Box office hits like The Barbie Movie and Oppenheimer brought gamblers back to theaters last year, but it wasn’t enough to keep some theaters afloat.
Cineworld, Picturehouse’s parent company, has struggled over the past year.
Last week the company reportedly completed 25 sites in the UK as part of a new cost-savings plan.
The chain will also renegotiate the leases of about fifty of its sites.
Distressed corporations do this to reduce their operating prices and retain a larger share of their physical assets.
The Sun understands that Cineworld and the owners will officially get the blueprints in the coming weeks.
At the time, a spokesperson for Cineworld told The Sun: “We continue to review our options, but comment on rumours and speculation. “
This follows the exit of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy mark in the United States that expired last year.
Filing for bankruptcy (Chapter 11) means that a company intends to reorganize its debts and assets while remaining in business.
At the time, the long history of the chain’s 129 British and Irish cinemas was under threat.
Elsewhere, Omniplex, Ireland’s largest cinema chain, took over five Empire Cinema theaters that were overdue last year.
The move comes after the British chain fell into administration, the last six sites with immediate effect.
EMPTY retail outlets have become an eyesore on many British grocery streets and symbolize the decline of a city centre.
Ashley Armstrong, business editor at The Sun, explains why so many shops have closed their doors.
In many cases, stores are your last outlets because they no longer make as much money as they once did due to online shopping.
Falling in-store sales and rising staff prices have made it even more expensive for retail outlets to reopen. In some cases, shops close one and reopen a new one across a major street to reflect a city’s evolution.
The challenge is that when a branch closes, traffic decreases on local high streets, putting more retail establishments at risk of closing.
Retail parks are becoming popular with shoppers, who need to be able to park smoothly and comfortably at a time when councils have higher parking charges in cities.
Many retailers, Next and Marks
Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when he moved an old store in Chesterfield to a new branch in a shopping park half a mile away, his sales increased by up to 103 per cent.
In some cases, retail outlets have closed when a store went bankrupt, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, and Paperchase, to name a few.
What’s not so unusual is that if a chain goes bankrupt, a rival store or a personal equity firm will take over the rights to the intellectual assets so they can own the logo and sell it online.
They may open a handful of outlets if there is visitor demand, but there are rarely as many outlets or in the same locations.
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