Tomorrow (Friday, 29 March), the old Odeon Cinema on Burns Statue Square will reopen as the Astoria Cinema Ayr, part of the Merlin Cinemas Group.
Merlin Cinemas started almost 35 years ago with a single-screen venue in Penzance and now operates over 18 cinemas across the country, with their most recent opening being the Plaza Cinema, Weston-super-Mare, which opened in December 2023.
Merlin has repurposed several heritage buildings so that all communities can continue to enjoy cinema experiences at affordable prices. In 2015, Merlin reopened the cinema in Thurso, Caithness, which, although successful, had suffered a few setbacks over the years and suddenly closed. Merlin took an educated risk, and Thurso became the first cinema to be operated by the company outside of England, all from their offices in Cornwall.
The Astoria first opened in 1938. It is the single surviving purpose-built Odeon in Scotland; it was designed by Thomas Braddock, who was also responsible for the group’s flagship cinema in Leicester Square, London. Its iconic landmark tower and magnificent design make an important contribution to the streetscape of Ayr and Burns Statue Square.
The cinema has required repairs and improvements before it can re-open, and Merlin is committed to improving the cinema further and enhancing cinema experiences for the local community.
Merlin works closely with many heritage organisations and councils to ensure these landmark buildings are preserved for the towns in which they operate.
Standard tickets are priced from £5, and there are further savings to be made with Merlin’s Movie Magic card, offering Big Screen entertainment at the Small Price of just £4 all year round, providing some of the best value cinema-going in the country.
The cinema will be showing a range of hotly anticipated new release films on opening: Kung Fu Panda 4 with the beloved Po getting up to his usual tricks in his journey to be the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace; our hero Kong clashes with the biggest threat ever to emerge from the monsters’ homeworld in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire; and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire sees the return of veteran Ghostbusters Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd to join forces with the new recruits in saving the world from a death-chilling adversary.
You can expect a host of titles you might have missed coming to the Astoria, such as Bob: Marley: One Love, Dune: Part Two and for the little ones, Migration, the new film from the Despicable Me team. The regular program will feature special revival screenings of cinema favorites with the Big + Mini Movie Deal seasons and event cinema productions including opera, ballet, theatre and music concerts.
The Astoria will also host regular parent and baby, relaxed (autism-friendly) and subtitled screenings for the hard of hearing.
Merlin’s popular Silver Screen strand which includes a hot drink, biscuits and reduced-price tickets, all for £4.50, kicks off on Thursday 18th April with award-winner Oppenheimer.