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:
Ripon Curzon won’t open on June 4 after all“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.”
The owners of the Curzon cinema in Ripon have said the venue won’t be reopening on June 4 after all.
On Tuesday, the London-headquartered cinema chain told the Stray Ferret:
“Curzon Ripon is planning on reopening June 4.”
Now the company has issued a new statement saying:
“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. “
The North Street venue opened on 31 October 2013. It incorporates two screens seating 58 and 34 respectively.
The complex includes a bar, restaurant and VIP area. It was created following a £2 million refurbishment of a former furniture store.
The Stray Ferret contacted the company amid growing speculation on social media about whether or not the venue would reopen.
Cinemas across the country reopened this week but audience numbers are limited. But the Curzon in Ripon remained shut.
The cinema chain says Curzon Ripon is too small to open safely on June 4.
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.
The situation was 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.
There was also 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.
Ripon isn’t among them.
Read more:
The 12 UK venues currently featured on the company’s website – include six in London.
Other locations are Canterbury, Colchester, Oxford, Richmond and Sheffield.