COLCHESTER’S new cinema will officially open next month bringing new hope to regenerating the area.

Curzon will open its doors on Friday, July 6.

Housed on two floors, in Queen Street, there will be three screens with 300 seats in total.

The cinema itself has opted to run a rooftop terrace bar and a downstairs bar, while two other restaurant units are also set to open.

Gazette: 1st look inside the new Curzon Cinema and dining complex about to open in Queen Street, Colchester..The entrance and first food area.

Nearly there - the Curzon's downstairs bar 

It is not yet clear which eateries will take up the units, but it is understood two operators are lined up.

Rob Kenny, director of cinema development at Curzon, said: “We completely expect this area to change in the next three years.

“We are expecting to have 120,000 through the doors in the first year and we can’t feed them all, so we expect other operators to look at the area and come to open.”

Gazette: 1st look inside the new Curzon Cinema and dining complex about to open in Queen Street, Colchester..Terrace area on top floor with views.

Terrace - the rooftop bar will overlook Firstsite

Mr Kenny cited one of the company’s newest cinemas in Aldgate, which saw two restaurants and a bar open up near to it in the last 12 months.

He added: “We know the council wants to make this into a cultural hub and we fit that mould nicely.

“We might be one of the first here, but that doesn’t really bother us.”

He also dismissed any concerns over Curzon competing in the short term with the Odeon, in Head Street, and in the longer term with a new Cineworld at Northern Gateway.

Gazette: 1st look inside the new Curzon Cinema and dining complex about to open in Queen Street, Colchester..Screen 1.

Inside - one of the screens was being assembled yesterday 

Mr Kenny said: “Put simply, we are not bothered by that.

“We hope to attract a different audience. Multiplexes are like supermarkets and Curzon is like a delicatessen - we’ll probably attract fewer people but they will spend more time with us.”

The director also pointed out the cinema would be showing well-know big-hitters as well as independent films, some of which are owned by the cinema’s own firm, Curzon Artificial Eye.

Gazette: 1st look inside the new Curzon Cinema and dining complex about to open in Queen Street, Colchester..Screen 1.

Work to do - the sceens have speakers behind them 

He added: “We will show the Incredibles 2, we will show Star Wars; we have to show them. Those films pay the bills and allow us to do what we really want to do.

Opening night will see screenings of Whitney, Sicario: Day of the Soldado and art house flick Mary Shelley.

Incredibles 2 and Oceans 8 are also on the schedule.

Gazette: 1st look inside the new Curzon Cinema and dining complex about to open in Queen Street, Colchester..Screen 2.

Special events and one-off screenings are also planned alongside live broadcast opera, theatre and music as well as live Q&A events with special guests about film.

Curzon is not completely new to the town, having collaborated with Firstsite for the past two years.

That collaboration is set to continue once the Queen Street venue opens.

Gazette: 1st look inside the new Curzon Cinema and dining complex about to open in Queen Street, Colchester..Terrace area on top floor with views.

Bar - the top floor houses two screens and a rooftop terrrace 

Curzon forms part of a £30 million overhaul of the St Botolph’s area, which will also see an 87-bed Travelodge and a public space created alongside a number of bars and restaurants.

A planning application is expected later this year.

Colchester regeneration boss Tim Young also pointed to the opening of Curzon as a “massive boon” for the town despite the closures elsewhere in the town centre.

Gazette: 1st look inside the new Curzon Cinema and dining complex about to open in Queen Street, Colchester..Rob Kennedy, Director of Cinema Development with reporter Ryan Jennings at the top floor food area.

On offer - the downstairs bar at the Curzon, in Queen Street 

The Labour boss said: “This will bring people a totally different experience to the usual multiplex scenario people may be used to.

“And a development such as a this, we believe, will encourage other food and beverage operators to come not only to Colchester but to this part of Colchester.”

He added: “We know this is an area has needed investment for some years and we now have a chance to make it a very attractive part of Colchester."