Richard Holden MP visits Basildon's Festival Leisure park and gets a behind the scenes look at Cineworld.
"It was an absolute pleasure to head down to the Festival Leisure Park in Basildon aka "Bas Vegas!" Hundreds of mainly local people are employed across the site and it also has big spin offs for lots of other local firms too, like key parts of the marketing, done by Amanda’s company Key Lime PR & Marketing in Billericay.
"Huge thanks to General Manager Matthew and Cineworld manager Phil for showing me round. The Cineworld was Britain’s cinema of the year in 2023, is one of the best and busiest in the U.K. not only showing all the latest releases (including an excellent deal for pensioners on a Wednesday morning) there are also amazing special effects screens I didn’t even know existed!
"The site itself is also owned by Aviva, one of Britain’s biggest pension and insurance companies - so it’s highly likely that you or someone you know will actually have a bit of a stake in it!
"The park celebrated 25 years last year and while some of the attractions - like the nightclubs - have ceased to be, others, like family dining, bowling and the cinema are going strong and expanding as fashion and people’s tastes change.
"I’ll always support businesses in our area that are competing and creating jobs and opportunities.
"I’m sure many Basildon & Billericay constituents have memories of nights out here!"
