01/09/2026
www.proscreens.co.uk
When the cinemas left the heart of our towns, they took away far more than just the big screen. They took the crowds, the atmosphere, and part of the sense of community that once made our town centres thrive.
A trip to the cinema was rarely just about watching a film. People would meet for a drink beforehand, have something to eat in a local café or restaurant, visit the shops, watch the film and perhaps finish the evening in a pub. One night at the cinema could bring business to several different shops and venues.
For generations, cinemas were at the heart of British town centres. They gave people a reason to come into town, particularly during the evenings when many of the shops had closed. The cinema kept the town centre alive after dark.
But gradually, things changed.
Town-centre buildings became expensive to operate and difficult to modernise. Large multiplex cinemas began appearing on retail and leisure parks outside our towns, where there was more space, cheaper premises and plenty of free parking.
From a business point of view, the move made sense for the cinema companies. But what did it do to our town centres?
The cinema audience moved with them.
Instead of driving into town, parking, walking past shops, having dinner in a local restaurant and visiting a pub, people could drive directly to an out-of-town entertainment complex. They watched their film, perhaps ate at one of the restaurants on the same development, got back into their car and drove home.
That footfall disappeared from the high street.
The cafés noticed it. The pubs noticed it. The restaurants noticed it. Taxi drivers noticed it. Even shops that had seemingly nothing to do with cinema benefited from having hundreds of people walking through the town every evening.
Of course, the decline of our town centres cannot be blamed entirely on cinemas moving away. Online shopping, high rents, business rates, changing lifestyles and many other factors have played their part.
But perhaps we underestimate just how important entertainment was to the traditional town centre.
People need a reason to visit a town centre.
If we want thriving high streets again, simply opening more shops may not be enough. We need to give people something to come into town for — cinema, theatre, live entertainment, restaurants, cafés, markets and community events.
We need to make our town centres places where people want to spend an evening again, rather than somewhere they simply visit when they need to buy something.
Because when the cinemas left the heart of our towns, something else left with them
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