BASILDON’S new Vue cinema will open in less than three weeks time – sparking hopes it will kickstart the revival of the town centre.

The new £2.7 million cinema has been heavily delayed since it was first announced back in 2020, with a series of hiccups in the construction before chain Empire pulled out of the deal when it fell into administration.

Now, Vue will throw open the doors to the cinema, boasting ten screens, leather-stadium seating as well as recliners, on July 27.

Basildon’s Labour-led administration is hoping it will be the first step in reversing the “decline” of the town centre, alongside plans for an arena at the Westgate Shopping Centre, a new Wetherspoon pub, thousands of homes and lofty ambitions for a new hotel.

Deputy Labour leader Adele Brown believes the town centre will benefit from the cinema, though it wasn’t the deal they felt “best for taxpayers”.

She said: “For the last three years, it is fair to say there hasn’t been any regeneration. It has all been managed decline and I do welcome the cinema. Having a greater leisure package for the town centre will welcome footfall, there is no secret in that.

“However, it is also no secret that Labour was opposed to that and found it to be a bad deal. The money paid was exorbitant. putting that to one side, though, it is good for residents that rely on that footfall.

“Our food industry benefits from that and anything that brings people to the town centre is to be welcomed.”

Ms Brown added that the future local plan will not just be about housing, it will also be “about employment and all the places we live, work and play”.

“The town centre is a massive cornerstone of our ambition and our town centres. Wickford, Laindon and Pitsea will also have a plan, each will be regenerated, and each will meet the needs of residents,” she said.

Despite the positivity Basildon resident, Michael Enever, 27, opposes the plans as a misuse of a “huge amount of money”.

He said: “With this money, you could afford to get people off the streets. They could have spent that money helping people instead of building a massive cinema.

“So many pubs have been shut down but this is where the support goes.”