ANOTHER high-profile building in Swindon has been targeted by urban explorers.
YouTubers broke a into Cineworld at Shaw Ridge – closed under lockdown rules – in an act branded "illegal, reckless and irresponsible" before posting footage for their followers.
The same channel exposed the state of the abandoned Oasis Leisure Centre this month and has previously produced unauthorised films from inside the shut Debenhams store and the Wyvern Theatre.
READ MORE: Urban explorers break into abandoned Oasis
Cineworld has reported the incident to the police but no action has been taken.
Shaw councillor Keith Williams condemned the trespassers and said the police are already stretched with the enforcement of Covid-19 rules.
He said: “Essentially this is breaking and entering, it’s pretty reckless behaviour and very irresponsible.
“It’s behaviour in the search of social media glory and it shouldn’t be approved of.
“This is a private business and what they’ve done is illegal.
"The police have their hands full and having to deal with unnecessary crimes like this is a waste of their resources.”
In the video, one of the men says “the door’s open” – similar words can be heard at the start of the Oasis footage – before a security alarm begins to sound in the main atrium.
After entering one of the theatres one of the men says “this is sick” before the video cuts to them discussing how many times the security alarm has gone off.
There is no footage of the venue's much-heralded 4DX screen, despite the promise made in the description posted on the Kirbz Vids YouTube channel. But the men did manage to gain access to the projector room, which holds the expensive equipment required to show movies on the silver screen.
Before leaving the building one of the men tries to press the reset button on the security alarm before they exit through the same door they used to enter.
Cineworld made the decision to close all of its sites in the UK in October after the latest James Bond film was delayed.
Bosses confirmed the company knew about the break-in and has now enhanced its security.
A spokesperson said: “In December, we experienced a security breach at Cineworld Swindon.
“We have since been liaising with the police and have introduced additional security measures to prevent this from happening again.”
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