The finishing touches are being put in place ahead of Thursday’s reopening of Ripon’s Curzon Cinema.

More than 18 months after the two-screen cinema closed its doors because of the coronavirus crisis, filmgoers will be able to take their seats for the much-anticipated James Bond blockbuster, No Time to Die.

Daniel Craig’s fifth and final appearance as 007 looks sure to attract large audiences.

The 8.30pm screening on Thursday is already sold out, but tickets are still available for the 5pm and 7pm showings of the film.

Ripon Curzon is set to reopen on Thursday.

Screening times, membership and bookings details for the Ripon venue are now available online.

With two screens, the premises on North Street are the smallest of Curzon’s 14 UK locations.

Initial plans to reopen on 4 June were put on hold due to social distancing issues caused by the venue’s size.

When announcing the reopening, Becky Tobin, regional manager for cinema chain, said the team was “very excited” to finally be back:

She told the Stray Ferret:

“We are thrilled that our customers will also be seeing some familiar faces as a lot of the team decided to return and are looking forward to seeing our regulars and members again.

“The returning team, along with the new recruits, have been getting into the swing of things with some onsite training of our revamped food and drink menu.”

The venue will welcome back its patrons with James Bond-inspired martinis.

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The cinema, which opened in Ripon in November 2013, is part of a BAFTA award-winning company that allows members to view films at home through its streaming service, as well as in Curzon venues across the UK.

As the covid lockdown restrictions on cinemas and live theatre were progressively eased by the government this year, the Curzon remained closed in Ripon, sparking fears the city’s only cinema would not reopen.

Film enthusiasts in Ripon remain in the dark about the future of the city’s Curzon cinema after the company released contradictory statements about its plans for the North Street site.

The cinema chain has said it gave ‘misleading information’ to the Stray Ferret when we got in touch in May about its reopening plans.

As the government moved towards the easing of covid lockdown restrictions, the company said in a statement on May 18:

“Curzon Ripon is planning on reopening June 4, 2021.”

Not coming soon… advertising for one of the films that was due to be shown at Curzon Ripon before it closed in March last year.

However, less than 24 hours later, on 19 May, it said:

“Unfortunately, due to Curzon Ripon’s venue being so small, with only 20 seats, they are unable to open safely at present with the government guidelines for social distancing.

“As soon as they can safely reopen there will be updates on the website.

“We apologise for the disappointment this may cause but we want to be able to reopen safely whilst following guidelines.”

Now, after a Curzon customer raised fresh concerns about reopening with the Stray Ferret, the London-headquartered company said this week it would like to ‘apologise for the misleading information’ given and for ‘the delayed reopening of our Ripon venue’.

But the question marks over its reopening remain.

The company said in a statement:

“As soon as we open the venue it will be shown on our website.

“We haven’t lifted our covid restrictions in any of our venues, due to this we can’t re-open Ripon until we lift our social distancing measures.”

Ripon not on Curzon website

The two-screen Ripon cinema, which opened in November 2013, is not currently featured on the company’s website, where 13 venues are listed.

Seven of the Curzon cinemas are in London, while in the north the company has locations in Sheffield and Knutsford, both of which have three screens.

Annual memberships range in price from £65 for a package that provides five credits for tickets or home cinema streams, to Curzon Cult + costing £850 per annum for 10 weekly credits.

A film lover, who was bought the basic £65 package in March 2020 as a birthday gift and asked to remain anonymous, told the Stray Ferret:

“More than a year after I received the gift from my family, I contacted Curzon’s national number in May to ask when I could watch films in Ripon again.

“I was advised go to the cinema on June 4 and it would all be sorted out.

“Then I saw the story on the Stray Ferret saying that the cinema would not be opening on 4 June.

“I was annoyed and rang Curzon to ask why they had given out wrong information, but gave up after being on the phone for more than an hour listening to a repeat message saying that they were dealing with a high volume of calls.

“This is a very unsatisfactory situation and Curzon is doing itself no favours by treating its customers like this.”

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In its statement on Tuesday, Curzon said:

“For our Ripon members who brought an annual membership there will be a full extension for the time they missed out on their membership due to us closing our venues.

“If anyone missed out on a screening due to our venue closure, we do offer a full refund for this, if they could contact us with a booking reference.”

Concerned film lovers in Ripon are worried that the Curzon cinema will not reopen.

Cinemas across the country reopened this week but the Curzon in Ripon remained shut, prompting questions about its future.

Ripon is no longer listed on the Curzon website page featuring its UK venues.

In addition, the website for Curzon Ripon is currently coming up with the message ‘Page not found.’

The same applies to other web pages previously used to promote the Ripon offer.

Freeze frame – this poster in the Curzon Cinema window for the film, The Truth, has been in place since March last year.

This has prompted posts on social media questioning if the cinema chain’s Ripon site will ever reopen.

The situation is further confused by apparently conflicting articles in national trade media.

An article in RadioTimes.com dated 4 May, said:

“Curzon is set to open in line with government guidance on May 17.

“Mayfair, Richmond, Wimbledon and Sheffield will open June 4. Tickets go on sale May 10. “

Ripon was not mentioned in that story and there was no reference to Ripon by name in an article published on Monday in screendaily.com .

Its 17 May story included the following:

“Eight Curzon cinemas are reopening from today (May 17), with a further five on June 4.”

That adds up to a total of 13 but there are only 12 Curzon cinemas listed on the company’s website and Ripon isn’t among them.

The Stray Ferret sought clarification from Curzon and received a brief response saying:

“Curzon Ripon is planning on reopening June 4, 2021.”

The London-headquartered cinema chain opened in North Street in November 2013.

It followed a £2m refurbishment project, involving the creation of two cinema screens, a restaurant, bar and a private VIP area.

The building also incorporates nine flats.

Cinemas were able to reopen across the UK on Monday and Curzon’s three-screen theatre in Knutsford, Cheshire opened on that day for film and food.

It is one of the 12 UK venues currently featured on the company’s website – six of which are in London.

Other locations are Canterbury, Colchester, Oxford, Richmond and Sheffield.

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In 2013 Curzon was heralded for bringing the cinema-going experience back to Ripon for the first time in 31 years.

In 1982, the Palladium Picture House in Kirkgate closed.

The palladium opened in 1916 and was popular with the many troops stationed in the city during the First World War.

In 1936, the cinema was remodelled in art deco style.

The building was subsequently the location for Sly’s nightclub, a florists and now a second-hand shop.