Yate Cinema dream becomes reality

A 15 year campaign has come to fruition with the opening of Yate's very own multiplex cinema. Councillors and Liberal Democrat Focus Team members, led by former MP Steve Webb, campaigned for over 15 years to bring a cinema to Yate. 

Members of the Focus Team who fought so
hard to get the Cinema at the launch event

The developers say that we wouldn't have got the cinema if it wasn't for the massive support from local people and Yate Town Council. This shows what a community can achieve if it's determined enough for long enough. A big thank you to everyone who supported our campaign.

Flashback to 2014 - Yate Cinema campaigners celebrate
the announcement that the cinema is on its way

Yate Cinema here we come!

 

The Yate cinema that we've all been campaigning for over many years finally opens to the public on Friday 29 April - they're starting with "Captain America: Civil War" in 2D and 3D versions.

There will be a launch event the previous evening for an invited audience, so by the time we all get there we can be pretty sure that everything will work!

There are some special offers -  

• The Cineworld Unlimited Card for £16.90 per month. You can watch as many films as you want, anytime and receive 10% off food and drink.
• Save 10% on ticket prices online when you sign up to Mycineworld
• Movies For Juniors, Saturday and Sunday morning screenings of kids films at Cineworld for £1.75 (or only £3.25 for 3D)

Yate Riverside cinema development progressing well

Work on the Yate Riverside cinema and retail development is going on well. From some angles you may be able to see that the first steelwork frame is now up. Yate Shopping Centre says that they expect the "topping out" to happen in July, with the retail and restaurant units opening in December and the cinema by next Easter.

For the statistically minded, the foundations involve about 2500 cubic metres of concrete - enough to fill an Olympic size swimming poole, though we wouldn't want to swim in it afterwards! - and 500 tonnes of steel.

Yate cinema well under way as Steve Webb digs in

Steve Webb MP joined local councillors and representatives of Yate Shopping Centre owners Crestbridge and contractors ISG at Friday's ground-breaking ceremony to celebrate the start of serious work on the Yate Riverside site. The site preparation work is complete, and construction of the cinema and shop units has now begun.

The Shopping Centre owners expressed their appreciation of the local community's support in the long process of bringing a cinema complex to Yate. Crestbridge appointed Group Property Controller, Mark Hull, said: “I always promised the people of Yate we would deliver a cinema for the town. It is has been a long and often tough ride but it is great news that work is starting onsite. This project is the fruition of many years work by the Member of Parliament, local councillors, and local stakeholders. We are aware that Steve has  been campaigning for a cinema in Yate for well over 12 years and it is only right that he and the local community come together to celebrate the start of works. ”

Steve Webb,said: “This is indeed a historic day. It seems many years since we first launched our ‘Cinema 4 Yate’ campaign in response to the strong views expressed by local residents and particularly young people that they wanted Yate to have its own cinema. This major step forward is the product of joint working and partnership over many years between the shopping centre owners, local councillors and local residents.  We have persevered through many ups and downs and it is great to be present for the formal beginning of construction works.  We look forward to the completion of the project and to a new boost to the economy for the people of Yate and the surrounding area”

The Mayor of Yate, Councillor Wully Perks said: “A cinema has been one of the town’s long held aspirations and is one of the key elements of the town plan. This will be another significant day for the town and will be a major step in the town’s growth. With so much new housing scheduled over the next few years, it is important Yate can offer residents all the facilities that are expected in a town of this size. It will also be a major boost for the local economy bringing jobs and preventing people having to drive further afield for evening entertainment”.


The major fashion store Next is already confirmed to occupy one of the three large retail units in the new Yate Riverside leisure development. Also confirmed as tenants are two popular restaurants, Italian chain Prezzo and American themed Deans Diner. There will be a further six restaurants and cafes.

The first retail units are scheduled to open later this year and the Cineworld six-screen cinema by Spring next year.

Armadillo Senior Cafe and free film on Thursdays

The Armadillo Cafe will be open at 9.30 am for the Senior Coffee Morning every Thursday - serving all the hot & cold drinks, cakes/biscuits and lots of other goodies! As part of the Senior Coffee morning they will be showing a FREE film at 10.30 am for anyone interested in watching a film.

You can join the Armadillo Events Club group on Facebook to find out the films that will be on each week.

If you would like to reserve a seat, please call the office on 01454 869441

Yate Cinema construction starts next week, but Overflow Car Park closed March to September

It has been announced that work on Yate Riverside, the cinema and  leisure development, will start next Monday, 9th February.

The first steps will be to establish the contractor’s compound and start removing the trees and shrubbery in the development area, an operation that will take around four weeks.

The developers and Yate Shopping Centre  been working closely with South Gloucestershire Council officers and Natural England to minimise the impact on any wildlife. We understand that the outstanding tree issues have been sorted out, and the badgers have been successfully moved to their new sett nearby. What's more they have started to reoccupy and extend an old sett next door.

Because of the works, the overflow car park off Link Road will be closed from early March until the end of September. Shopping Centre retailers will be assigned 100 special parking spaces in the main car park for their staff so as to ensure the vast majority of spaces are still available for shoppers - short term pain for long term gain.

At least it's not the Christmas shopping season, but there will be some inconvenience at peak times. The Shopping Centre has asked shoppers where possible to come on foot or cycle, or public transport.

The retail and restaurant units are scheduled to open in early December. The cinema is now scheduled to open by Easter 2016. Not quite as soon as we had hoped, but it's all happening!

Cineworld confirmed for new Yate Riverside cinema, opening late 2015

Cineworld have been confirmed as the main tenant for the new cinema and retail development, which will be called Yate Riverside. The main construction work will start early next year, aiming for the cinema to be ready late in the year, ready for Xmas.

Councillor Ruth Davis, a member of the Focus Team that has been fighting for a cinema in Yate for well over 10 years, expressed her delight that things are now happening: “Many previous shopping centre owners have told me they will try to get a cinema but nothing has ever come of it. Today Yate Shopping Centre's owners Crestbridge are delivering and I know that local councillors and residents are absolutely thrilled that things are moving forward"

“With the proposed expansion in housing, Yate needs to be a centre on its own and not reliant on Bristol and other shopping centres. Crestbridge promised us that high street names will come to Yate and we already have some, with others to follow. It is these shops that will draw in visitors to enable the smaller independent traders to succeed and make Yate a thriving centre.”

Steve Webb MP welcomed the news and said: “I’m delighted that the plans for the cinema complex have taken another step forward. After years of campaigning we are nearing the finishing line, and I look forward to joining other local residents in seeing films locally, hopefully by the end of next year”.

All systems go for Yate Cinema within 18 months!

"And... Action!" - Planners give
go-ahead for Yate Cinema

Planning permission has now been granted for the Yate Cinema and the associated retail development, a decision which has been hanging on a knife edge. The May 8th meeting of a South Glos committee gave the go=ahead after a detailed debate led by Focus Lib Dem councillors Pat Hockey and Alan Lawrence.

In the vote that followed the scheme was approved by five votes to nil, the Lib Dems being supported by Labour. The Conservative councillors on the committee felt unable to support the proposal, so they all abstained.

This is the culmination of a ten year campaign by Steve Webb MP and the Focus Team to get a cinema for Yate - what really swung the decision was the massive local support for the proposal, as demonstrated by Steve Webb's cinema petition.

The team at Yate Shopping Centre are to be congratulated on putting together a viable commercial proposal even in these difficult times. They say that building is scheduled to start next January, and opening around October 2015. So we could have our multi-screen cinema up and running within 18 months.

Show your support for a cinema for Yate - sign our petition this week!

More than 250 people have already signed Steve Webb's online petition in support of the planning application for a multi-screen cinema for Yate. The deadline for this application is *this Friday*, 20th December.

Please sign if you haven't already done so, and ask friends, family or colleagues in the Yate area who would really like to see a local cinema too.

You can click here to sign the petition: http://www.stevewebb.org.uk/webb/node/115

Thanks very much!

Yate Cinema consultation this week - come and see the plans!

The public consultation for the proposed new cinema development at Yate Shopping Centre will take place on Thursday, 9^thMay and Friday 10^thMay. The display will be in the former Stead & Simpson shop at Unit No1, South Walk and will be manned by members of the Project Development Team at the following times:
Thursday, 9 May Noon – 8.00pm
Friday, 10 May 10.00am – 6.00pm

The display will then stay in the unit until 5.00pm on Monday 13 May where visitors can view it at their leisure during Centre opening times. The proposals are for a six-screen cinema, restaurants and retail units on the land behind the Link Road overflow car park.

A major cinema for Yate is in sight at last!

The owners of Yate Shopping Centre have announced a consultation on plans for a cinema complex on the land at the back of the Overflow Car Park. At a press conference with Steve Webb MP - a long-term campaigner for the cinema - proposals were revealed for a six-screen cinema complex, six restaurants and three or four shop units. There will be extra parking spaces, and over 150 jobs will be created.

The plans will be presented to Yate Town Council this week, and then they will be put on display in one of the shop units in the Shopping Centre. The public will be able to come along and quiz the developers about the scheme.

Once any fine-tuning has been done there will be a formal planning application. If all goes well the cinema could be open by Christmas 2014 or Easter 2015.

You can read the Shopping Centre press release here: http://www.yateshoppingcentre.co.uk/Media-Centre/Cinema-Restaurants-and-Retail-12-million-investment-planned-at-Yate-Shopping-Centre

We'll post more details as we get them. And no, the first film won't be "Bridge Over the River Frome"!

Yate cinema site floated

The owners of Yate Shopping Centre have said they've checked out the overflow car park area, and it's not likely to flood - so it could be a site for a new cinema. They've asked the Environment Agency to confirm their findings.

Let's hope they're right - the risk of flooding was one reason they didn't want to build the new health centre there.

A spokesman for the shopping centre owners said work could start on the cinema next year, but they won't submit a planning application until they're certain about the flooding.