PLANS for a £6 million multiplex Cinema on the edge of Burnley town centre have been unveiled by Apollo Leisure Group.

Around 80 jobs will be created by the scheme to build a state-of-the-art, nine-screen, 1,800-seat complex on the site of Do It All on Manchester Road.

Two family restaurants, a cafe-bar and parking spaces for 300 cars are part of the plans, described by Apollo as their flagship development.

If planning permission is granted, work will start in October and the complex will open next Easter - just in time for Jurassic Park 2! One building will be demolished to make more car-parking space, and the Do It All building will be redeveloped with a glazed, two-tier foyer front.

Unit Four Cinema, Brierfield - also owned by Apollo - will remain open as long as it makes money, according to the firm's bosses.

Development director Steve Lavelle said: "We are delighted to be in Burnley - the best site in East Lancashire for a cinema of this kind.

"There has been a phenomenal growth in cinema audiences over the last 10 years and the Burnley conurbation is one of the biggest that is still without a multiplex.

"There is no reason why people in Burnley would want to travel down the M65 to alternative sites. Historically this has been a very strong cinema-going town.

He added: "Standards in terms of comfort will be second to none, with air conditioning, comfortable seats, and disabled access and provision. The days of the 1980s flea pits with poor sound quality are gone."

He said he expected the new cinema to take some custom away from Brierfield, and that each cinema had to stand on its own.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.