New cinema opens with chocolate and sci-fi films

The first film to be screened at the new venue features Timothee Chalamet as Willy Wonka

A brand new cinema is to screen its first films later - 50 years since a town last had a cinema.

The Newmarket Cinema will open its doors to customers who will watch Wonka and Dune: Part Two.

The new facility, which has been constructed by Abbeygate Cinema, is located within the Kings Theatre on Fitzroy Street in the Suffolk town.

Josh Schunmann, executive director of Newmarket Charitable Foundation which helped fund the project, said the team was "incredibly excited".

The team behind the new cinema has said they are "incredibly excited" for the opening

"It's great to see a cinema back in Newmarket," he said.

"We know that people in Newmarket and the surrounding area have been wanting one... it's been 50 years since they last had one."

Mr Schunmann said the task of opening the cinema over the past three months had been "a challenge" but "it has been worth doing".

It has been opened in partnership with Abbeygate Cinema of Bury St Edmunds, which Mr Schunmann said Newmarket Charitable Foundation was "incredibly grateful" to.

Josh Schunmann, executive director of Newmarket Charitable Foundation

"It's been about three months from the moment we sat around a table and said this would be a good idea to getting it open and running," he added.

"We haven't hung around at all."

The new cinema will first show Wonka from 16:00 BST before showing Dune: Part Two at 19:00, both starring Timothee Chalamet.

"The smell of popcorn hits you as soon as you walk in," Mr Schunmann said.

He was hopeful of success because local people will not longer have to travel to Cambridge, Bury St Edmunds or Haverhill to get to a cinema.

"Please go along and support it because these things only carry on if people keep turning up," he added.