New 2,000 seater cinema will be at heart of Warrington town centre masterplan

A new 2000 seat IMax cinema will sit at the heart of Warrington Borough Council’s £107 million town centre development masterplan.
It will be accompanied by a new market hall incorporating the historic former ‘Boots’ building frontage, a 1300 space new multi storey car park, new council offices, several family friendly restaurants and a new public square.
The project is anticipated to transform the fortunes of Warrington town centre. The scale of the new cinema, which will have ten screens and an IMAX will make it one of the largest in the region and along with the new market hall and restaurants will provide a significant leisure draw into the town centre which will complement the existing offer.
The up scaled project is significantly larger than that previously announced. Financially sustainable, the project will create an anticipated income of £5.5 million per year for Warrington Borough Council and also be a valuable capital asset for the local authority.
Hoardings have been erected around phase 1 of the site in order that demolition works can commence later this month and ground works are ongoing.
The Bridge Street Quarter Regeneration project is being delivered by Warrington & Co., on behalf of Warrington Borough Council with development partner Muse Developments.
A temporary market hall will be the first element of the Bridge Street Quarter regeneration scheme to be built and a flythrough of how the building will look was released in March 2015. The market will move into this temporary location early in 2017 whilst the second phase of demolition is underway and whilst the new, permanent £10 million, 31,150 sq ft market hall is being constructed. At no time will the market close or cease to trade.
In order to minimise disruption for the market traders a phased programme of site development will be carried out over the next five years. The project will create up to 400 construction jobs and 400 new permanent jobs in the leisure, retail and restaurant sectors when the whole project is fully completed in 2019.
When open the new market hall will incorporate the magnificent, Grade 2 listed former Boots building façade on Bridge Street as one of its entrances. The opposite side of the building will feature entrances out towards the new square in front of the new multiplex cinema. Access into the market will also be available from the two other sides of the building in order to generate and promote through footfall and promote trade.