THE City Council is optimistic that the multiplex cinema in the centre of Lancaster will go ahead even if Warner decide to pull out.

Construction work has finished on the Warner Village site on Church Street, which has planning permission for six screens and 1,539 seats, but there have been inexplicable delays in getting the multiplex cinema up and running.

The cinema was due to open in the summer last year but it remains an empty shell while negotiations continue between Warner and the development company Marshgate.

The cinema industry is currently struggling in what have been described as "saturated markets" and there have been fears that Warner may decide not to go-ahead as the end user.

But council chiefs have assurances that other companies are ready to step to develop a cinema should Warner pull out.

The development also includes a number of retail units which have yet to be let.