First look: Inside York’s new Everyman Cinema, transformed after a £3m refurb

An iconic building. But what has been going on inside? Photographs: Richard McDougall

The Odeon is one of York’s most striking buildings.

And now it has been restored back to its glorious best, after a 15-week, £3 million transformation into an Everyman Cinema.

The opening date of the Everyman York is Saturday, December 30.

Everyman took over the 80-year-old, Grade II listed art deco building, in August 2017.

The refurbishment has seen the Everyman install

sofa seating

a bespoke curved house bar

Spielburger restaurant

four refurbished auditoria

equipped with Barco Digital Projectors and Dolby 7.1 sound.

There are four screens. Filmgoers at the new cinema can order food and drink delivered to their seat.

Broad range of films

The screen in the large auditorium is the biggest in the Everyman chain

CEO of Everyman Crispin Lilly said: “We are truly delighted to be opening in York, our third Yorkshire cinema, after Harrogate and Leeds.

Everyman York screen capacities
Screen 1: 144
Screen 2: 53
Screen 3: 53
Screen 4: 20

“We hope that York will enjoy our cinema, our food and beverage, as well as the customer service that we put at the heart of our offering, delivered by a strong team lead by Manager Hannah Holmes.”

He said York can expect to see a broad range of quality films at Everyman.

This would include blockbusters Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Darkest Hour and The Shape of Water to British Independent Film Award winners like Gods Own Country, and The Death of Stalin.

Other awards contenders such as Three Billboards and The Post are being released over the coming months.

Tickets on a Saturday night would cost £13.50.

Other offers

The sofas at the back of one of the auditoriums

York will also play host to regular features like The Everyman Collection (a chance to see something you might have missed, or less mainstream), live broadcasts of opera and theatre productions and foreign language strands.

Everyman also hopes to be able to announce details of working with York’s Aesthetica short film festival shortly.

Everyman has other venues opening across the UK in 2018 (including in Newcastle, Glasgow, Liverpool and Horsham).

YorkMix was invited to look round as the work to complete the York transformation was being completed.