Swindon’s last open cinema has urged people to visit over half-term.

The manager of the movie theatre at Greenbridge Retail Park fears people are shunning it because they think it’s still a Cineworld venue even though it has been owned by Empire for the past 14 years.

Last week Cineworld announced it would be closing all of its UK locations including Shaw Ridge and Regent Circus. But the Empire is still operating.

General manager Trudy East said: “Unfortunately some of the local people still think we’re a Cineworld and we need to get the message out that we’re not Cineworld and we’re very much open.

“We want to welcome our customers in to a safe environment so they can escape for a few hours from what’s going on outside.

“We’re open everyday, come and try and we’d love to welcome you back.”

Empire has also added some new health measures in order to make people feel as safe as possible.

By law, people entering the cinema must wear a mask unless eating or drinking but staff at the cinema have added a one-way system, cashless payment only and hand sanitiser stations.

Trudy told the Adver: “We have sanitiser in every auditorium and when you book seats the seats either side of you and in front and behind will automatically lock out, so you’ll be in your own bubble.

“And on the weekends we have someone on the door who is talking you through the procedures and making sure people follow the guidance by wearing masks and everything.”

Despite film delays, including James Bond being pushed to next year, Trudy believed there was still enough to draw people in over half term. “The film line-up is getting changed on a daily basis with distributors deciding to push films back or release straight to streaming.

“It’s a difficult market for us but we do have films. We opened with Tenet and that did really well on Imax.

“We have films to show, half term’s coming up and we’re very much a family cinema with plenty of children’s movies coming out.”