Vue Cinemas submits plan for Swindon Empire building

The multiplex chain has submitted a planning application to Swindon Borough Council asking for permission to take down the Greenbridge Retail Park site’s existing signs and replace them with its own logos.

If approved, the four pink, all-capitals Empire emblems that currently loom large several metres above the ground would be swapped with lower-case, flame-coloured Vue signs.

This would include  the installation of two internally-illuminated orange and yellow fascia signs that are 1.8 metres high, 4.34 metres wide, and 0.13 metres deep as well as the addition of two signs on the totems that list the business park’s attractions and be 0.7 metres high, three metres wide, and 0.01 metres deep.

Consent for the advertisement is sought from November 20, 2023.

Plans to change the signage on Swindon's Empire Cinema to Vue logos (Image: Swindon Borough Council)

The exterior IMAX sign would remain as it is, though a dot matrix screen below it would be removed along with the support legs that currently hold the screen in place.

The application has the reference number S/ADV/23/1270 and was validated on October 24.

Plans to change the signage on Greenbridge Business Park totems to include Vue logos (Image: Swindon Borough Council)

Earlier that month, Vue submitted a separate application to the local authority which asked for the granting of a premises licence that would allow the company to add Unit 21 to its portfolio of more than 90 sites around the UK.

The proposed licensable activities that would be carried out on-site include the performance and exhibition of films, plays, dance, and live and recorded music indoors 24 hours a day and seven days a week, as well as the provision of late-night refreshments indoors between 11pm and 5am, and the sale of alcohol from 9am to 3am daily.

These house and licensable activities are the same as those permitted by an existing premises licence at that cinema, so the new application is likely to be approved.

Members of the public were allowed to make representations about this licensing request until November 3 and a decision is expected in the coming days.

If the premises licence and planning application are approved, the Empire Cinema which closed in July would gain a new lease of life.

Empire suddenly collapsed into administration and closed seven of its sites after struggling to continue trading due to a lack of income during the pandemic, low attendance levels post-Covid, rising inflation, and soaring costs.

The Adver has approached Vue Cinemas for comment.