ENTERTAINMENT LEADER NATIONAL AMUSEMENTS
TO LAUNCH LEICESTER’S FIRST MULTIPLEX AT THE NEW SHIRES
Leicester to be third UK location for luxury cinema format
Leicester’s cinema-goers will be in for the red-carpet treatment as National Amusements, a world leader in exhibition and entertainment, announced today that the city centre is to be the third UK location for its pioneering ‘Cinema de Lux’ format.
‘Cinema de Lux’ will be Leicester’s first city centre multiplex, and will be the focus of the leisure, entertainment and family-restaurant area being created by developers Hammerson and Hermes around a major new public square at the heart of the new £350 million Shires development.
According to National Amusements, the state-of-the-art 3,000-seat, 12-screen cinema will provide entertainment at a whole new level, bringing a combination of cutting edge digital technology, interactive media, and a broad range of programming to Leicester for the first time.
Cinema-goers will be able to enjoy ‘first-class’ luxury through National Amusements’ revolutionary ‘Cinema de Lux’ experience. This includes the exclusive ‘Directors Halls’ premium auditoria, featuring leather rocking recliner seats, as well as deluxe food and beverage services such as the ‘Chatters Lounge’, where hot food, alcohol and appetizers are served in the relaxed atmosphere of a comfortable seated area.
In addition, the new Shires ‘Cinema de Lux’ will offer patrons a heightened level of customer service through its concierge desk. The service has been designed to assist cinema-goers with details such as calling taxis and making restaurant reservations.
National Amusements will also be bringing a range of family events to the new
Shires ‘Cinema de Lux’. These include:
Bookworm Wednesdays
A weekly Summer programme aimed at younger readers where children can submit
short book reviews in return for free admission for themselves and their parents
to selected films.
Baby Pictures
A weekday morning programme specifically designed to allow new parents the opportunity
of viewing the latest film releases accompanied by their infants. The baby-friendly
environment will include reduced sound volume within the auditoria, and higher
light levels to enable parents to attend to their infants’ needs during
the screening.
The new Shires ‘Cinema de Lux’ can also be used as a children’s birthday party venue, with special birthday packages available.
Set within a new entertainment and dining quarter within Leicester’s prime shopping area at the Shires, the new 7,000 m2 ‘Cinema de Lux’ complex will provide a key leisure focus for the scheme, when completed in 2008.
Designed to link into The Shires shopping centre, the new mixed-use development will provide a major new shopping and leisure destination incorporating contemporary city-living style accommodation and open streets and squares, centred around a new retail core anchored by a John Lewis department store.
Taken together with the existing Shires shopping centre, which will be fully refurbished, the new Shires development will become a major regional destination providing over 100,000 m2 of retail space, three leading department stores, over 3,000 parking spaces, new public transport facilities, and 118 new homes.
“We are excited to bring ‘Cinema de Lux’ to the Leicester community and to play an important part in this regeneration project,” stated Shari E. Redstone, president, National Amusements, Inc. “Our ‘Cinema de Lux’ will offer movie-goers and their families the best in entertainment – combining a superior cinema experience with a number of unique programmes and amenities geared towards people of all ages.”
The signing of National Amusements as the main leisure facility for the new Shires development is another major milestone for the mixed-use development. Earlier this month (August), the joint owners and developers secured detailed planning consent for the flagship 22,000 m2 four-level John Lewis department store building which is to be the centre-piece of the development.
Jon Emery, Hammerson’s Development Director responsible for the new Shires
development, commented:
“Our plans for the new Shires will transform Leicester’s city centre
retailer and leisure offer. National Amusements’ ‘Cinema de Lux’
is an important part of the dynamic new entertainment focus we are creating
for what will become a major regional destination.”
For further information please contact:
Sue Maguire/Catherine Keep
Willoughby Public Relations
Tel: 0115 924 7132
Sue: 07739 403952
Catherine: 07791 027 070
email: catherinek@willoughby-pr.co.uk
NOTES TO EDITORS
National Amusements, Inc
National Amusements has over 65 years of experience in the entertainment industry.
With over 1,425 screens world wide, National Amusements is the world’s
largest privately held cinema company and the parent company of Viacom, which
includes Paramount Pictures, MTV, Nickelodeon, CBS Television, Infinity Broadcasting
and many other leading entertainment businesses. National Amusements has pioneered
the Cinema de Lux concept in the US, and Leicester will be the company’s
third ‘Cinema de Lux’ in the UK. National Amusements has substantial
cinema operations throughout the UK, US, Latin America and Russia and has earned
a reputation for delivering an unparalleled entertainment experience.
The new Shires development
The new Shires development in Leicester is being carried out by The Shires Limited
Partnership, a joint venture between Hammerson plc (60%) and Hermes Property
Asset Management (40%). Hammerson is the development partner.
Hammerson plc
Hammerson is a leading European property company, with operations in the UK,
France and Germany. Its high quality portfolio of over 1,100,000m² of retail
space and over 200,000m² of prime offices is valued at £4.6 billion.
Hammerson is one of the UK’s top four quoted property companies and is
the UK’s leading developer of major retail-led urban regeneration projects.
Its portfolio of retail schemes include award-winning developments such as Bullring
in Birmingham, The Oracle in Reading, and WestQuay in Southampton.
Hermes Property Asset Management
Hermes holds over £2.8 billion worth of assets in the retail sector, of
which some £1.3 billion is invested in 21 shopping centres throughout
the UK. The Hermes retail portfolio also has substantial interests in retail
parks, unit shops and indirect holdings. Hermes is a key stakeholder in the
futuristic Milton Keynes shopping centre which, when it opened in 1976, received
world-wide acclaim for its innovative design.
The new Shires development : Key facts