UCI Tallaght cinema to close

ian_m

http://www.movies.ie/news/UCI_Tallaght_cinema_to_close

The UCI cinema at in Tallaght is to close its doors in March after 20 years at The Square, with the loss of over 50 jobs.

The closure follows notice from landlords Alburn who said the lease was always due to come to an end this month and would not be renewed.

A spokeswoman for UCI cinemas made a statement saying "Following notice given by landlords Alburn, we can confirm that the UCI Tallaght will close it's doors to the public on March 8th 2010. UCI Cinemas would like to take this opportunity to thank all of its guests who have visited the cinema over the years and thank the UCI team members who have contributed so much to the running of the cinema".

Staff member James Dunne said "We didn't see this coming, even the managers had no idea. Fifty job losses is massive and many of the staff have kids and mortgages - it's going to be extremely hard for them".

A planning application was passed recently for a new 14 screen cinema complex at Belgard Square East, on the site of the former Woodies DIY.

MagicMarker

Sad for the people who lost their jobs but the cinema is awful! Can't wait for the new one!

super_furry

Yep, sad to see but it's been coming and I'd suggest that the cinema has been allowed to become run down. I remember when it first opened it was the only thing like it in the country but Liffey Valley, Dundree and Blanchardstown left it looking run down and dirty and nothing was ever done to improve it.

ohnoigotsick

super_furry wrote: »

Yep, sad to see but it's been coming and I'd suggest that the cinema has been allowed to become run down. I remember when it first opened it was the only thing like it in the country but Liffey Valley, Dundree and Blanchardstown left it looking run down and dirty and nothing was ever done to improve it.

money was put in ovr the years , but not enough , it would have required a major overhaul and from a business point of view - spending money revamping a cinema in ireland could easily be spent overseas building a cinema or two from scratch. The UCI was stil in decent enough nick when liffey valley opened - thats 11 years open this year so i'm sure that and blanch are a bit more run down since then.

Jarren

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MagicMarker

ohnoigotsick wrote: »

money was put in ovr the years , but not enough , it would have required a major overhaul and from a business point of view - spending money revamping a cinema in ireland could easily be spent overseas building a cinema or two from scratch. The UCI was stil in decent enough nick when liffey valley opened - thats 11 years open this year so i'm sure that and blanch are a bit more run down since then.

You'd think think VUE in Liffey Valley was only just opened walking in there, I can't believe it's 11 years already!

ohnoigotsick

MagicMarker wrote: »

You'd think think VUE in Liffey Valley was only just opened walking in there, I can't believe it's 11 years already!

Haven't been there in years but it was a well built cinema to start with

Tenderloins1

Thats very sad news, worked in the Square for a few years in the early 90s and used to go to almost every film there. Still regularly bring the kids up there to films too.
Tough on the 50 workers.

Just reminded me of passing theold Harolds Cross cinema site yesterday. Nothing there just an empty lot. That was a great old cinema (a kip but when I lived in the vicinity used to go there regularly and run into the pub for a few pints after).

neilthefunkeone

Terrible about the jobs going..

Havnt been to UCI there in years and i live just around the corner.. Combination of its facilities and customers have me going out to Dundrum or Vue!!

Wonder whats going in instead? another cinema or something else?

super_furry

Reading the story in the Echo, it looks like the landlords in the Square decided not to renew their deal with UCI, so it was out of their hands. Strange decision and one that's probably linked to the proposed redevelopment of the Square, which is to include a new cinema.

seamus

super_furry wrote: »

Reading the story in the Echo, it looks like the landlords in the Square decided not to renew their deal with UCI, so it was out of their hands. Strange decision and one that's probably linked to the proposed redevelopment of the Square, which is to include a new cinema.

Not all that strange. If you think about the amount of space taken up by UCI, and you gutted that, you'd have a massive amount of additional floor space on both the third and second levels - two entirely new "wings" which can be renovated in line with the rest of the complex and fit in a tonne of shops. While it's sad for those who are losing their job, chances are this will generate a lot more jobs in the medium-term.

The cinema itself had become completely run down & inadequate since the glory days of being the biggest/best in Ireland, so the owners of the square were probably glad to be able to remove it in line with the redevelopment.

ohnoigotsick

Cinema is based on level 3 only, with fire exits only on level 2 out by tesco.

rumour is that penny's was ear marked to go in there

Run_to_da_hills

Hopefully with the amount of retail outlets closing left right and center across the city because of greedy landlords this shower will score an own goal and get landed with a large empty space. Cinemas are complimentary to any shopping center.

trellheim

One of the factors would have been the introduction of paid parking recently. Why bother when you can drive elsewhere for free eg Liffey Valley and Blanch

ohnoigotsick

trellheim wrote: »

One of the factors would have been the introduction of paid parking recently. Why bother when you can drive elsewhere for free eg Liffey Valley and Blanch

you didn't have to pay for parking in the square when you went to the cinema.

ian_m

ohnoigotsick wrote: »

you didn't have to pay for parking in the square when you went to the cinema.

And you still don't have to.

Oral Slang

Sad in a way to see it go, but it was a terrible kip. Pretty much every time I went scumbags were smoking, shouting across the place to one another & generally disrupting the movie. We went out about 3 times about a group of people, before they threw them out.

Only went to Pigsback previews in recent times. Used to cash in my points for free tickets, but my o/h still wouldn't go there, even with free tickets.

Max_Damage

UCI Tallaght was the only place local to me anyway that buttered the popcorn. Not even Liffey Valley or Dundrum do that!

Kensington

Not really surprised to be honest, the place was fairly dire. When you have the likes of vue with stadium style seating 10 minutes one way up the M50 and 10 minutes the other way you have movies@dundrum, with fully digital projection as opposed to the wobbly, scratchy reel-to-reel film projectors UCI used, it was inevitable.

I do feel sorry for all the staff though. Very tough job wise at the moment.

Doop

In fairnes I havent been to UCI in years which is quite close to where I live but I would happily drive the extra 20 mins (past the square) to Liffey Valley... it became an utter dump, good memories from being a kid up there... also the first ever 'date' I went on


sad for the jobs tho,

Ye rekon theres alot of demand for that retail space??
Its gotten silly round Dublin the rents for commercial premises

fuelinjection

Doop wrote: »

In fairnes I havent been to UCI in years which is quite close to where I live but I would happily drive the extra 20 mins (past the square) to Liffey Valley... it became an utter dump, good memories from being a kid up there... also the first ever 'date' I went on

Ah UCI Tallaght.
Have good memories from there, was a long time ago though.
But any muppets that talked during the movie was on had a good beating free of charge. You can't do that these days. I swear if someone even threw popcorn at you back then it was war, and the whole cinema supported/helped you.

Cremated

Max_Damage wrote: »

UCI Tallaght was the only place local to me anyway that buttered the popcorn. Not even Liffey Valley or Dundrum do that!

Was going to mention the buttered popcorn alright , though you got in before me,

but I spent a lot of my weekends as a kid up there with my family,

and from reading here, it seems it had taken a turn for the worse since I was last there, crikey 2003 with Mona Lisa Smile, ( don't ask ) ...

uci_suck

for thos who say UCI was a kip. Your right, in a way! The cinema was 20 years old, are owned by the same crowd who owns leisureplex (i.e a bunch of cheap f*cks) who never once put any money into the unit! senior managements logic was when attendances dropped every year, was to increase prices and milk the customers who where loyal! and decrease the amount of staff running the place to a bare minimum, Premier Seats for their premier service! they where to cheap to have the staff, in order to deliver the service they want people to think they are getting! What sort of logic is that! so yes it was a kip but only cos the owners let it become that.

however they did sell the tallaght unit a couple of years ago for a rumoured €60mil. and then when they try to lay everyone off they offer stat redundancy where about 50% of workforce are there less than 2 years, so technically they dont got pay them anything!

here is another interesting point that may just be a coincidence, UCI claim lease negotation went from november to february, coincidentally that was the same period the planning application for the development of the woodies site went through. And coincidentally the day staff were notified of their job losses was the same day the owners of UCI were notified that planning permission was granted to Laytar Ltd. coincidentally owned by Bernard Mcnamara who coincidentally owns or owned a company with the UCI owners called Cicol, but deny thay are moving into this site!

Just a lot of coincidences. apologies for the length of this post

Butch Cassidy

And the majority of staff would've been part-timers so their "average week worked" would be fairly low.

I'm asssuming you worked there?

Luckycharm

Passed by it yesterday and was shocked to see it closed- it used to be the busiest UCI in Europe!! I used to go there alot when I was growing up - I have not been in a while. Didn't realise no where else did buttered popcorn- anyone know why?

ohnoigotsick

Luckycharm wrote: »

Didn't realise no where else did buttered popcorn- anyone know why?

All the cinemas in dublin get there food from Hollywood express which are owned by the UCI/Odean cinemas in the UK. i'm sure the reason alot of them give is that it's too dangerous with trips from slippy floors which is true.

But the main reason is cost in my opinion. you sell popcorn with or without butter in the UCI's it's the same price - a couple of years ago when i worked there they tried to bring something in to charge people who wanted extra butter and cheese but the staff never really rang it through the tills.

icdg

uci_suck wrote: »

for thos who say UCI was a kip. Your right, in a way! The cinema was 20 years old, are owned by the same crowd who owns leisureplex (i.e a bunch of cheap f*cks) who never once put any money into the unit! senior managements logic was when attendances dropped every year, was to increase prices and milk the customers who where loyal! and decrease the amount of staff running the place to a bare minimum, Premier Seats for their premier service! they where to cheap to have the staff, in order to deliver the service they want people to think they are getting! What sort of logic is that! so yes it was a kip but only cos the owners let it become that.


Just a lot of coincidences. apologies for the length of this post

EEL have only owned UCI Cinemas in Ireland for the last few years - they bought the chain from Odeon in 2006. And the cinemas are still being managed by Odeon.

You could see a massive world of difference between UCI Tallaght (opened 1990) and UCI Blanchardstown (opened 1996). Blanchardstown was already a lot more modern than Tallaght (which looked dated even when it opened) and got a slight facelift when UCI changed its logo from the original blue version to the yellow version now in use. It looks modern - granted its not up to Vue or Cineworld standards but it looks a lot more modern than Tallaght.

I wonder why the decision was taken not to go the whole hog and rebrand to Odeon here, though.

marwelie

Went to see Rovers on Tuesday in Tallaght and got the 75 home. Couldnt believe the amount of empty car parking spaces which I would imagine is a direct result of the cinema closing. I used to frequent the cinema and then ramble around the centre picking up bits and pieces but now I have absolutely no reason to visit the Square again and I dare say a lot of other people will feel the same. Could be the beginning of the end for the place because it hasnt changed since it opened as far as I can see (other than get bigger!) More shops, less money doesn't add up.

DaveyDave

Moved out of Tallaght about 4 years ago, didn't go there too often but it's sad to see it go, despite it being a bit of a kip.

It's for the better though, I'm hoping the new cinema will be good, all I know is that I've never had a great experience in cinemas. UCI and Vue seem to have the same annoying people going to them, I've banned myself from going to the cinema before 6pm just because of people bringing their 6 loud kids along.

Cineworld is ok but cut films short sometimes...didn't see the ending of Max Payne but wasn't arsed complaining as I already watched it before hand.

marwelie

According to Wikipedia (so therefore it must be true ;o)) RTE's six-one news bulletin on the evening of the closure of the Cinema said that if a new Cinema is not opened in the Woodies site in next four months, the UCI Cinema in the Square will be re-opened. Makes you wonder why they closed it in the first place!

ohnoigotsick

marwelie wrote: »

According to Wikipedia (so therefore it must be true ;o)) RTE's six-one news bulletin on the evening of the closure of the Cinema said that if a new Cinema is not opened in the Woodies site in next four months, the UCI Cinema in the Square will be re-opened. Makes you wonder why they closed it in the first place!

thats rubbish in my opinion - rumours were that pennys was going in there for a long time - they've created the space now with UCI gone

MagicMarker

marwelie wrote: »

Went to see Rovers on Tuesday in Tallaght and got the 75 home. Couldnt believe the amount of empty car parking spaces which I would imagine is a direct result of the cinema closing. I used to frequent the cinema and then ramble around the centre picking up bits and pieces but now I have absolutely no reason to visit the Square again and I dare say a lot of other people will feel the same. Could be the beginning of the end for the place because it hasnt changed since it opened as far as I can see (other than get bigger!) More shops, less money doesn't add up.

Huh? The whole place has been revamped in the last few months and will be expanding over the next few years creating 7000 more jobs. The Square is going no where. The empty spaces are because they now charge for parking to get rid of those leaving their cars there to get the Luas.

silat liam

marwelie wrote: »

According to Wikipedia (so therefore it must be true ;o)) RTE's six-one news bulletin on the evening of the closure of the Cinema said that if a new Cinema is not opened in the Woodies site in next four months, the UCI Cinema in the Square will be re-opened. Makes you wonder why they closed it in the first place!

No Chance of new cinema opening inside the next 4 months, be very lucky if there a new one in the next 4 years. With the reccession all new building work has slow way down. With the cinema gone the Square is very empty at night and unless the management get the cinema up and running again, lots of food outlets that surround the cinema and shopping center will be gone with more job losses.

Madness closing a cinema down in this day and ages, when cinema numbers are going up, what were the management thinking.

ian_m

silat liam wrote: »

Madness closing a cinema down in this day and ages, when cinema numbers are going up, what were the management thinking.

It is rather ridiculous it has to be said. There is obviously another agenda on the the table here.

You're also right about the food outlets. This can be said for the rest of the shops in the centre, business will suffer. Some more significant than others but enough to be noticed. Anyhow...Its very easy to blame the recession isn't it?

patrickbrophy18

I will admit that even though I haven't been there in roughly a decade now with the relatively recent IMC in Dun Laoghaire, my first memorable time going to the cinema was at the UCI in Tallaght. It was there that I watched Curly Sue, All I Want For Christmas, A Simple Wish, The Lion King, The Nightmare Before Christmas and other timeless classics. Back then, I referred to the cinema as "the pictures". It's a pity to hear that the cinema is about to go. While I won't exactly be loosing sleep over this, it could have a few knock on effects on traffic at Movies at Dundrum, The Ormond in Stillorgan and the IMC because these cinemas will more than likely be picking up the slack from the closed UCI cinema. Nevertheless, some of my earliest memories of going to the cinema took place in the UCI. Just thinking about, it brings me back to the days when it used to take ages to get to The Square in Tallaght without the M50. We were really lost (pardon the pun) without that gem of infrastructure. Anyway, I am sure that it will be missed by those who live nearby.

El.duderino

Im going to stop using the square now. Why should I pay to shop in an out of town center. They should pay us! Used to be handy to shoot up and grab something you needed. I wont bother now ,Now you have to use pay parking machines,Have get change etc..Bla blah time wasted. Square needs a revamp. Like a big old 1980,s shopping center. Cinema was run-down. The blue UV lights in toilets ..big turn off

El.duderino

Just a quick one. Do they have smackhead lights in VUE or blanch? Never been in those cinemas before? Savoy and cineworld in town dont. They freak me out. Its like they have those lights. Wheres the junkie lurking?..

Crazy Taxi

MagicMarker wrote: »

You'd think think VUE in Liffey Valley was only just opened walking in there, I can't believe it's 11 years already!

Bull! was there 3 months ago and I wouldn't pay for "upgraded" seats so the seats we got were ripped with the armrest hanging off one side. Having to pay €1.50 extra per seat just to sit on an unripped cushion is an insult after you've paid nearly a tenner to see the film:mad:

SerialComplaint

El.duderino wrote: »

Used to be handy to shoot up .....The blue UV lights in toilets ..big turn off

Well if you keep shooting up in there, of course they need the UV lights! :P

As it happens, the UV lights are a pretty useless deterrent. A committed drug user will just Tippex their veins, so the UV lights will highlight them beautifully.

ohnoigotsick

Due to shambolic security provided by the square it was a necessity - not appealing by a necessity - at the end of the day you can't expect a person working in the cinema or a fast food resturant to confront drug users - all you can do is alert your boss and do things in the correct channels.

MagicMarker

El.duderino wrote: »

Im going to stop using the square now. Why should I pay to shop in an out of town center. They should pay us! Used to be handy to shoot up and grab something you needed. I wont bother now ,Now you have to use pay parking machines,Have get change etc..Bla blah time wasted. Square needs a revamp. Like a big old 1980,s shopping center. Cinema was run-down. The blue UV lights in toilets ..big turn off

Parking is free for the first hour, so you can still shoot up and grab something you need, and it's much easier to get a space. A good thing imo.

MagicMarker

Crazy Taxi wrote: »

Bull! was there 3 months ago and I wouldn't pay for "upgraded" seats so the seats we got were ripped with the armrest hanging off one side. Having to pay €1.50 extra per seat just to sit on an unripped cushion is an insult after you've paid nearly a tenner to see the film:mad:

Oh noes, a ripped seat! :eek:

I assume you let them know one of their seats was ripped on your way out yeah?

ohnoigotsick

MagicMarker wrote: »

Oh noes, a ripped seat! :eek:

I assume you let them know one of their seats was ripped on your way out yeah?

they should be checking them on a daily basis - but you would be surprised how much the cinema itself is abused by kids.

El.duderino

I,ll stop talking,, I,m making it too easy..

surf4490

A planning application was passed recently for a new 14 screen cinema complex at Belgard Square East, on the site of the former Woodies DIY.
Whether it will ever be built in this economic climate is another thing .Tallaght is the size of a medium sized European city and has no cinema ?

unreggd

Its bullsh;t

I'd say the square hiked the rent up to a price they defo couldnt afford to get them out, say the same happened with Zavvi

The new cinema complex will have more shops too, so why not have penneys there!?

Dave!

The cinema is horrible anyways, not sad to see it go really.

Clanket

Did they get rid of them because that end of the Square is essential to their plans to extend the Square?

I know for definate they are in the process of planning a huge extension though last I heard someone or some company was blocking it

Butch Cassidy

ian_m wrote: »

It is rather ridiculous it has to be said. There is obviously another agenda on the the table here.

Fire the staff and then rehire new staff at a lower wage with less conditions and entitlements? Maybe...

This rumour about it reopening can easily be quelled by anyone who was working there - if they removed the projectors then it's gone but if they're still there you would wonder why....

icdg wrote: »

EEL have only owned UCI Cinemas in Ireland for the last few years - they bought the chain from Odeon in 2006. And the cinemas are still being managed by Odeon.

You could see a massive world of difference between UCI Tallaght (opened 1990) and UCI Blanchardstown (opened 1996). Blanchardstown was already a lot more modern than Tallaght (which looked dated even when it opened) and got a slight facelift when UCI changed its logo from the original blue version to the yellow version now in use. It looks modern - granted its not up to Vue or Cineworld standards but it looks a lot more modern than Tallaght.

I wonder why the decision was taken not to go the whole hog and rebrand to Odeon here, though.

UCI Tallaght was the guinne pig. Nothing like it had ever been tried. It was Ireland's first multiplex of its kind. They'd been cropping up in Britain at the time but it was still a fairly risky investment. UCI Tallaght was built in such a way that it could be dismantled in about two days. It had the most absolute basic architecuture to it with a raised lobby being probably the most complicated piece of the design.

Why they never rebranded was a weird one when the other two big plexes had - UGC and Ster. There was issue with the name as there's an Odeon bar but the truth was probably closer to the fact that no one wanted to invest in it ie. the owners.

3DataModem

Does this mean anything for the UCI in Coolock?

Butch Cassidy

3DataModem wrote: »

Does this mean anything for the UCI in Coolock?

UCI Coolock is in a building all to itself. I'd assume they outright own the building so they're not beholden to a lease like Tallaght was.