UK Cinemas close due to virus

Leading UK cinemas chains have announced they are closing theatres in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Cineworld and Picturehouse announced that they are shuttering all cinemas across the UK from Wednesday. Their cinemas in Ireland will be closed from Tuesday.

The Odeon cinema chain is closing its theatres today until further notice.

The BFI Southbank has also been closed, effectively immediately. All forthcoming events and screenings at BFI Southbank have now cancelled or postponed.

The move follows government advice yesterday that people should stop going to the cinemas and theatres to help combat the spread of the virus.

Cineworld Group CEO Mooky Greidinger said: "At Cineworld and Picturehouse, we are committed to providing safe and healthy environments for our employees and guests and have therefore made the difficult decision to close our cinemas in UK and Ireland until further notice.

"We deeply value our cinema-loving customers and have no doubt we will be serving everyone again as soon as possible with a full slate of Hollywood blockbusters and the best of independent films and content."