Empire’s former cinema estate heads to market
The estate of collapsed cinema chain Empire has been brought to market.
CBRE has been appointed by Empire’s administrators BDO to find buyers for eight cinemas, following the chain’s collapse last month.
The cinemas in Birmingham, Clydebank, High Wycombe, Ipswich, Sutton, Sutton Coldfield, Bath, and Cheltenham have continued to trade while buyers are sought.
The sites are available with a mixture of tenures including freeholds, long leaseholds and occupational leaseholds. Empire’s head office in Leicester Square will be also offered as part of the sale.
Toby Hall, senior director, operational real estate at CBRE, said the firm had received “significant interest from a wide pool of prospective buyers”.
Recent data from CACI found that cinema visits have continued to fall since the Pandemic.
Empire’s screens in Bishop’s Stortford, Catterick Garrison, Sunderland, Swindon, Walthamstow, and Wigan have already closed.
Founded in 2005, Empire was created following the mergers of Odeon and UCI, and Cineworld and UGC.
The Office of Fair Trading ruled that both of the newly-formed groups should lose a number of their cinemas, creating a gap in the market for Empire to fill.
Before the closures, the chain operated 129 screens nationwide.