The Tyneside Cinema has said its reopening will be delayed after the building suffered “significant widespread damage” in a flood.
Boris Johnson’s announcement on Monday night means that cinemas across the country can reopen as planned on May 17 in the next stage of Covid-19 lockdown easing.
But the independent Newcastle cinema has said it will be unable to open its doors next week as the building undergoes repairs for water damage.
A spokesperson said it is likely to be July before the city centre venue is able to reopen in its entirety.
A post on the Tyneside Cinema ’s Facebook page that it had suffered a flood in January while the building was closed.
They said: “The flood has caused significant widespread damage after bursting through the ceiling of the 4th floor and cascading down the central stairway affecting doors, walls, floors and many other parts of the cinema.
“The volume of water had been building up for some period of time and potentially leaking between partitions and walls.
“The extent of the damage has now been fully investigated and following a long period of drying out and a thorough assessment by our insurers as to the extent of water damage caused, we are now aware of the full scope of repairs required to restore our beloved cinema building back to its previous state.”
The work is expected to get under way by the end of May.
The spokesperson said: “We are reassured that the damage is repairable and that once our audiences do return, the cinema itself will look better than ever.
“Currently we expect to have our building back in its entirety by the start of July, although there could be opportunity to open parts of the building sooner whilst repairs are ongoing.
“Whilst the Tyneside Cinema team would ideally have liked to be in a position to re-open sooner, our intention is to open well and as early as we can given the current constraints.”
The Pilgrim Street cinema, which was hit by scandal last year, said it would “use the additional time to continue progress on the recommendations from the independent review ”.
After closing its doors in March last year during the first national lockdown, the Tyneside was the subject of claims of sex abuse, bullying and harassment.
The scandal overshadowed its financial struggles which led to redundancies and a fundraising campaign in a fight for survival.
In December it committed to implementing 74 recommendations made in a damning report and its new boss Simon Drysdale said it has already started to make good progress.
The latest post ended: “We have the opportunity to build Tyneside Cinema into new ways of doing things and we intend that to be a fully inclusive process for the whole team, in order to get our beloved organisation ready for our audiences once again. We can’t wait to welcome you back.”
