Suzanne Davies overcomes objections to win new licence for Odeon Cinemas in Durham

Suzanne Davies successfully overcame objections from Durham’s MP, Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods, and the city’s Parish Council to obtain the grant of a premises licence enabling the sale of alcohol and provision of film and other entertainment at Odeon Cinemas’ new Odeon Luxe cinema in Durham.

The cinema has six screens (including a state-of-the-art iSense screen), all with stunning RealD 3D and luxurious reclining seats.

There will be two car parks available, both of which are located underneath the Riverwalk and are accessible via Milburngate. There are terminals inside the cinema to give a reduction on the cost of parking in each of these car parks.

In defeating the objections, Suzanne countered fears of late night noise nuisance and disturbance in the city centre, enabling the cinema to open from 9am until 1am on the night following (on Sunday to Thursdays) and until 2am on the night following (on Fridays and Saturdays). You can read more about the cinema – and book your tickets – on Odeon’s website here.

The cinema has created 38 new jobs and is part of The Riverwalk, a £40million development, that is also bringing 23 refurbished retail units, 35,000 square feet of new restaurants, 253 student accommodation rooms and a Lane7 bowling alley to the Gates shopping centre site in Durham.

You can read the Northern Echo’s report of the licensing hearing here and the welcome to the opening of the new cinema following the grant of its licence by Durham City Council here (each of which can be downloaded below).

On a more personal note, this was a particularly satisfactory outcome for Suzanne who, seventeen years ago, was instrumental in obtaining a new licence for a Walkabout Australasian bar which was housed in what had at the time been Durham’s sole remaining cinema (Robins Cinema). We wish our longstanding clients, Odeon Cinemas, all good fortune with their exciting new cinema venture in Durham.