Cinema chain Cineworld has announced they may have to close all 128 of their UK sites due to rules in place around the coronavirus pandemic, claiming the industry has become unviable.
Some of their sites had reopened, with customers having to wear masks throughout, and recently having to close by 10pm.
However, their site in Hengrove has not reopened since March. Bristol Live asked the company why the Bristol branch had not reopened when others had. We were told it was commercially unviable to reopen the south Bristol cinema but they were "optimistic" about opening in the future.
Speaking on Tuesday (Sep 29) a Cineworld spokesperson said: "Cineworld Bristol will remain closed for the time being as it is not commercially viable for us to operate.
"We are monitoring the evolving situation and business impacts around COVID-19 very closely and look forward to re-opening the cinema for our valued customers in due course.
"We continually assess the viability of operating Cineworld Bristol and we remain optimistic that we will be able to re-open in the future."
That was six days ago, and since then the company has taken the decision to potentially make more than 5,000 people redundant with an incentive to come back to the company next year when they plan to reopen.
Since the pandemic many businesses have been badly affected, and with many blockbuster films choosing to delay their release or go straight to streaming services, cinema has struggled to recover.
Industry experts have said the delay of the latest James Bond film No Time To Die was likely the final straw as it was predicted to be one of the biggest releases of the year.
