Cinema planning 2 extra screens (From York Press)

York’s Reel Cinema planning 2 extra screens

9:13am Friday 21st August 2009 in News By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter

ARCHITECTS have started drawing up plans to create an extra two screens at York’s Reel Cinema.

Boss Kailash Suri has also revealed he is to introduce cut-price tickets on Mondays to match those already offered on Wednesdays.

He said today because of the success of “Reel Wednesday,” when customers pay £3 for a ticket at any time of day, he was going to launch a “Reel Monday” from September 7, bringing the same discounts to the start of the week.

He said more than 30,000 customers had visited the former Odeon cinema in Blossom Street since it reopened in June as part of the independent Reel chain. “I am very pleased,” he said.

Reel carried out a major refurbishment prior to the reopening, but retained the traditional two small screens downstairs and one huge auditorium upstairs.

However, there is spare space available to create two new screens.

Mr Suri said today architects had recently held “positive” discussions with planners at City of York Council and now gone away to draw up firm plans.

There would then be further discussions with officers prior to submission of a formal planning application.

Mr Suri has also responded to a complaint to The Press from one disgruntled customer about the closure of the upstairs toilets.

Colin Jeffrey claimed the toilets on both floors had frequently been closed and some days the only toilet available had been the single disabled toilet.

“Queuing in the main entrance foyer to use that particular toilet, because other toilets are closed in disrepair, is unacceptable,” he said. “Having to walk up and down stairs from the main auditorium to use toilets (often with children) is also inconvenient.”

Mr Suri said the upstairs toilet had been shut after the main sink had been blocked by someone putting paper in it. “However, the downstairs facilities were still functioning,” he said.

“These things do happen in the day-to-day running of our business as a result of vandalism and people mistreating the facilities but we do carry out regular checks and try to restore full usage as soon as possible.”