Cinema chain dodge questions over their long-term commitment to Ayrshire town

Bosses at Odeon Cinemas have passed up on an opportunity to give a 'firm commitment' over their long-term plans for their venue in Ayr.

Ayrshire Live approached the chain's PR company, London-based Tulchan Communications Group, about their plans in the wake of our exclusive last week that a rival eight-screen cinema could be heading to Ayr.

But instead of taking the opportunity to underline their commitment to local cinema fans, their PR firm issued an irrelevant, one-paragraph response to our questions.

We asked the media firm the following questions:

1 – With the news of the Arc Cinema eight-screen proposals for Ayr, does the news have any knock-on affect to the Odeon's ongoing strategic plans for Ayr?

2 – Will you be reviewing your plans for Ayr? Or will you welcome the chance to go into direct competition with another cinema chain?

3 – Can you confirm your commitment to remaining in Ayr for the foreseeable future?

And this is the response we were issued by an Odeon spokesperson: "We are delighted to be helping the local community through the support we are providing to SCTS (Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service) in shifting the backlog of court cases at present, and we look forward to welcoming guests back to see films when we are able to."

In December, we revealed how the cinema, in Burns Statue Square, was to be used as a remote jury centre in 2021.

It was set up to help ease the backlog of cases since the UK lockdown and to help prevent the spread of coronavirus locally.

It meant that jurors could view legal proceedings on the big screen, as opposed to travelling directly to attend cases at Ayr and Kilmarnock Sheriff Courts.

However, when Ayrshire Live spoke directly with the PR firm about the bizarre response they issued – and pointed out that the jury centre wasn't part of our query – they claimed the response "did" underline their commitment to Ayr.

A spokesperson also said that Odeon "does not" publicly discuss their ongoing strategic plans, or respond to questions surrounding "rival" cinema chains.

The Odeon cinema, Ayr, opened on July 30, 1938.

It is the only survivor of the ones the company built before the Second World War and it’s an important building in the history of cinema in Scotland.

And that’s because it was custom-built as a showpiece Odeon.

The architect who designed it, Thomas Braddock, was also involved in the project to build the chain’s Leicester Square flagship cinema in London in 1937.