HOLLYWOOD comes to Burnley on Friday, and workers are working round the clock to complete the new £5.5 million cinema.

Apollo Leisure opens its flagship cinema at 12.30pm when the new Clint Eastwood film Absolute Power will be screened.

It will also be the first film to be shown in the new directors' auditorium complete with licensed bar, which opens at 2pm.

The nine-screen cinema, on the site of the former Do It All DIY store off Manchester Road, is the first in Burnley since Studios 1-2-3 closed in 1988.

General manager John Merryweather said: "We came on site late last year and have been converting the building and fitting out since January.

"It is coming together very well. There have been a few hiccups but it would be silly to think that everything would go according to plan, but we are working 24 hours a day and we will be open commercially on Friday."

The site has been renamed Hollywood Park and work should start on a family pub and restaurant in July with an expected opening time of Christmas.

Mr Merryweather said the multiplex had difficulties with the telephone system but customers would hopefully be able to reserve tickets on 01282 456222, and the 24-hour information line is 01282 456333.

The gala open evening is on June 10.

The new complex will take the number of Apollo cinemas to 16. It is only the third in the country to offer a licensed bar.

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