Blyth cinema bosses reveal plans ahead of town revamp

The venue in Blyth's Market Place is due to open in late-2024

A new cinema and cultural hub in Blyth is expected to create about 30 jobs when its opens next year, bosses say.

Plans for the venue, which also includes space for live music and theatre, have been passed as part of a major revamp of the town centre.

The Market Place site will be operated by Whitley Bay-based Jam Jar Cinema, and features three screens, with the largest expected to seat 120 people.

"It's going to be a building for all of the community," said founder Dan Ellis.

The as-yet-unnamed venue is set to open in late-2024 and has been funded through the £70m Energising Blyth programme, which aims to revitalise the town over five years.

The new cinema, which will be upstairs, is also expected to have a screen for 80 people and a smaller screen with about 50 seats.

Outside the project also includes green space, better lighting and street furniture, as well as the refurbishment of the public toilets.

Rail network connection

It comes just months after the area suffered a major blow with the collapse of BritishVolt, the ill-fated battery plant which had been due to open in nearby Cambois, offering thousands of jobs.

It has since been bought by Recharge Industries and a deal on building the factory is nearing completion.

Blyth is also set to be connected to the rail network with the reopening of the Northumberland line between Ashington and Newcastle, which was axed in the 1960s as part of the Beeching cuts.

Jam Jar Cinema's Whitley Bay venue opened in 2013

Mr Ellis called the new venture a "much bigger operation" for the North Tyneside-based social enterprise, which soon celebrates its 10th anniversary.

"It's quite a trusting thing for them [the council] to say, we want an independent company to run this, we don't want a multiplex, we don't want a chain, we want someone who is going to keep money in the town and help basically regenerate the whole high street.

"I think it's brilliant we have this opportunity to bring this to Blyth - we are in for the long run," he said.

The funding has come from the government's Future High Street Fund and Town Deal, Northumberland County Council and the North of Tyne Combined Authority.