A year after opening and Peterborough’s Odeon Luxe Imax cinema has fast become a hit venue of the city

Managers of the £60 million, eight screen luxury cinema, which sits on the roof of the Queensgate Shopping Centre, say demand from cinema goers has been constant over the last 15 months.

Customers say they are drawn not only by the quality of the screenings but also by the range of luxury seating from reclining individual seats to the VIP Beds - large, luxurious, double-bed-style seats.

Will Langston, manager of the Odeon since its opening in November 2024, said: “Everything has been really positive.

"We have been really well received by guests who have really enjoyed the luxe offering and the luxury seats.

"I think the price point has made the cinema really accessible with tickets starting at £7.50, which has been really well received.

"So we have been really busy since opening."

The cinema’s eight screens offer a range of seat numbers. It makes the smaller screens, with about 39 seats, ideal for hiring for private functions.

In once case, the smaller screen was hired so guests could play their own video games.

While the cinema has not released figures for the number of visitors, the Odeon is regarded as having the highest footfall of any venue in the city.

But never mind the movies, it turns out that one of the Odeon’s most popular features is its popcorn.

Will said: “Popcorn is one of our best sellers.

"People love the freshly popped salted popcorn that we do.

"We’ve got a really expansive menu as well – we do hot food like chicken pizza , mozzarella sticks, loaded potato pots.

“We also have a bar offering – Oscar’s Bar,

"And believe it or not, we also do home delivery which has been a massive success.

"It is really popular, especially over the weekends.

"A lot of people like their ice blasts on a Sunday morning or cheesy nachos at home when they are watching films.”

The construction of the new cinema, which employs 40 staff, took a painstaking six years from its planning to securing an operator and the opening of its doors to the public.

But it is arguable that the real magic of the cinema is the behind-the-scenes technology which brings the movies alive.

Will said: “Being a new build cinema we are lucky enough to have all our eight screens as laser projection, and that includes our Imax screen.

"It means the pictures are bolder and are more power efficient as well and it gets a more stable image brightness on the screen, so it’s a real benefit of coming to watch a film here and is something our guests have enjoyed.”

But long gone are the days of a film projectionist sat by himself in a back room making sure the film reel kept going round for the duration of the movie

Will said: "Films come to us now via a kind of digital download and they go straight into a server which sends them directly out to the screens.

"Our staff don’t have to do anything with them.

"It’s very high tech and one of the advantages of being a new build cinema.”