A UK cinema chain has fallen into administration, closing multiple sites immediately.
The Empire Cinemas chain operates 14 locations across the country with 129 screens.
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The company employs around 430 people across its sites.
A total of six sites are set to close with immediate effect, with two under the Tivoli brand, and 150 roles have been made redundant.
Eight of the 14 cinemas will remain open for the time being.
Company bosses have put the closures down to struggling to bounce back after the pandemic.
The company has said that gift cards and ticket e-codes which have already been bought will still be accepted at operating cinemas.
Tickets that been be bought for sites that are continuing to trade will still remain valid.
If you bought a ticket in advance for one of the now closed sites then you should have already been refunded.
Among the sites which are set to close immediately are Bishop’s Stortford, Catterick Garrison, Sunderland, Swindon, Walthamstow and Wigan.
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Those that will remain open are as follows: Birmingham, Clydebank, High Wycombe, Ipswich, Sutton, Bath and Cheltenham.
Administrators, the BDO group, have reported that they’re looking for a buyer, which could save the above locations.
Justin Ribbons, Empire Cinemas Group Chief Executive Officer, told Deadline: “As a consequence of COVID-19, we found ourselves in a position where we were mandated by Government to close down our cinema chain in its entirety for protracted periods in 2020 and 2021, leaving us with a high fixed cost base and no income.”
It comes after huge cinema chain Cineworld revealed it expects to come out of bankruptcy protection in July after receiving backing from lenders.
It comes after the world’s second largest cinema chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US last year due to giant debts and low footfall to its venues.
Your rights in redundancy
Companies can choose to cut their workforce and employees should understand their rights.
You are entitled to statutory redundancy pay, but only if you have worked at your job for two years or more.
The statutory rate is based on your age, weekly pay and number of years in the job.
You will get:
- Half a week’s pay for each full year you worked aged under 22
- One week’s pay for each full year you worked aged 22 or older, but under 41
- One and half week’s pay for each full year you worked while aged 41 or older.
But it’s capped at 20 years and the max redundancy pay you can get is currently £16,320.
Some companies may offer to pay more than the statutory amount. This will usually be in your contract.
Plus, you are still entitled to any pay you are owed for untaken holiday days at the end of your notice period.
The government has a calculator on its website to help you work out how much you are owed.
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