Cinema confirms closure but announces new site

The owner of the Odeon building said the venue is "no longer viable"

A cinema chain has confirmed its closure at one site alongside plans to open another in a different town.

Odeon confirmed its Kettering branch would close on 28 January 2025 while announcing that a new Odeon Luxe would open in Northampton next year.

Recently, more than 2,000 people signed a petition to pledge their support for the Kettering venue and halt its closure.

In a statement, Odeon said it made the decision to shut the site following "constructive, but ultimately unsuccessful negotiations".

The Odeon cinema in Pegasus Court, Kettering, will close at the end of January

The building's owner, Augur Group, attributed the decision to a "significant drop" in attendance over the past five years, and said the venue was "no longer viable".

The new Odeon in Northampton will follow a model seen in Peterborough, where a Luxe cinema with over 600 seats and eight screens replaced a shuttered site, creating 60 jobs.

Earlier this month, Cineworld announced that the Sixfields Leisure site in Northampton would cease trading on 19 January as part of a restructuring effort.

The BBC asked Odeon if its new Luxe site would occupy the former Cineworld property.

It did not say when the new site would open.