THE dates in which ODEON will reopen venues across the region have been confirmed.

ODEON, which was among one of the first retailers to shut amidst the coronavirus outbreak, has confirmed when each venue will reopen.

Initially, only a handful of cinemas will open from Saturday, July 4 - with ODEON Luxe Durham named among them. 

Then from Friday, July 10, ODEON in Metrocentre and ODEON at Silverlink, North Shields will resume showings.

Finally, ODEON Luxe in Darlington and ODEON Harrogate will reopen their doors on Thursday, July 16.

The cinema firm has said tickets will go on sale from today (June 25) for all venues across the region.

The firm has worked with the UK Cinema Association and government to introduce enhanced health and safety measures to each site.

These safety measures include: 

- Contactless payment, including booking online and contactless ticket checks in cinema and contactless till payments for purchasing food and drinks

- Limited seats on sale for each show and guaranteed unoccupied seats between guests to meet social distancing requirements, whilst enabling family groups and social bubbles to sit together

- Staggered show start times to reduce queues, with safe queuing measures in place such as floor markings and cinema host support

- Newly serviced air conditioning that ensures fresh air is delivered into all screens

- Enhanced cleaning by well-trained teams

- More frequent cleaning routines on all high contact areas of the cinema guest journey

- Guest sanitiser stations offering complimentary sanitising gels and wipes

- Teams equipped with PPE, including face coverings and gloves

Carol Welch, Managing Director UK & IRE said: “We are excited to confirm that from 4 July, our UK cinemas will begin reopening. 

"We’ve carefully planned every step of our guest journey and put safety measures in place that will enable our highly trained colleagues to provide a controlled and safer cinema experience for all our guests.

“New measures include social distancing in our auditoriums and foyers, additional cleaning regimes, and a request to book tickets online prior to arrival. 

"We would like to thank our colleagues and guests for their patience during this period, and we can’t wait to welcome guests back to big screen entertainment and a safer cinema experience.”