EMPIRE Cinema in Rubery is set to remain open despite the chain collapsing into administration.

The cinema chain has collapsed after suffering during the pandemic and seeing dwindling numbers of cinemagoers.

Around 150 jobs have been lost after six cinemas were closed with immediate effect, according to joint administrators at BDO.

Cinemas in Bishop’s Stortford, Catterick Garrison, Sunderland, Swindon, Walthamstow and Wigan have closed. The already-shut site in Sutton Coldfield will not reopen.

Empire Cinemas runs 12 theatres under the Empire brand and two Tivoli-branded cinemas in Bath and Cheltenham, employing 437 staff across England and Scotland prior to the closures.

The chain will keep its remaining seven sites open while it seeks a buyer for the business, BDO said.

The cinemas staying open are located in Birmingham, Clydebank, High Wycombe, Ipswich and Sutton, and the two Tivoli sites.

Chief executive of Empire, Justin Ribbons, said in a note on the company’s website: “As a consequence of Covid-19, where we were mandated by the Government to close down our cinema chain in its entirety for protracted periods in 2020 and 2021, this left us with a high fixed cost base and no income.

“Cinema attendance levels have not yet returned to pre-Covid-19 levels and the operating environment remains extremely challenging.

“It has been a difficult economic environment for any business to manage through without long-term damage and having exhausted all other available options for the business, we firmly believe that this process can be a platform to restructure the business and preserve as many of our cinemas and the maximum number of jobs as possible.”