ONE of my pet hates is to be sat in a cinema surrounded by people who are chatting, checking their mobiles or munching on a bag of crisps while the film is on.

Can we not just have a bit of hush for a couple of hours?

Last week I found myself in a near perfect scenario as I sat inside an empty movie theatre in the centre of Darlington where the only distraction was a feint clicking sound as our photographer Sarah took pictures of Simon Hawkins, development director in charge of the new Feethams complex.

I said it was 'almost' the perfect scenario as it's still a few weeks before any films will be shown here.

Being give a nose around a brand new site before it opens to the public is one of the few perks of this job.

If you have ever visited the ruins of a Roman amphitheatre or Shakespeare's Globe on the banks of the Thames then you will have a good idea of how the Vue cinema projection rooms looked on the day the Echo visited - all bare walls and blocks of sandy-coloured terraced seating but none of the plush armchairs and fittings we are accustomed to seeing in a modern multiplex.

They will be installed over the next few weeks as the building readies itself for a grand opening which will take place "around Easter time" according to Mr Hawkins, who has been involved in this project since the outset when it was led by Terrace Hill before the Teesside commercial property group morphed into the Urban & Civic brand.

Hailing from the nearby village of Middleton One Row Mr Hawkins reckons the development brings something that Darlington has been lacking since he was a lad.

"You can enjoy yourself anywhere as a teenager and I had a great time but in terms of this type of leisure offer it is something that the town needs," he says.

"I remember that as soon as you turned 17 and one of your pals had access to a car you were away to a cinema or places to eat. At the moment lots of young people go off to Teesside Park but this gives them a venue closer to home.

"It is similar for me now. I have a young family and we often find ourselves driving for an hour from our home in Barnard Castle over to Teesside Park or down to Richmond."

Anyone who has been through Darlington over the past year will have witnessed the emergence of the Feethams development, which gazes out over the cricket and former football ground sites that bear its name.

Mr Hawkins adds: "I see what we are providing as something the town hasn't got. What Darlington is very good at is its array of independent retailers. Healthy town centres need them. What we are bringing is more of a corporate offer which we think can coexist and trade very successfully with what is already here. There is not one operator in our scheme that we have plucked out of an existing unit in the town to come here. Everyone here is new," he adds.

The nine-screen Vue cinema and 80-bed Premier Inn are key to the site's success. Mr Hawkins reveals that some of the eateries - such as Nando's and Bella Italia - are champing at the bit to start trading and will open ahead of the cinema and hotel in the coming weeks as soon they have been fitted out. Mr Hawkins is in talks with other retailers to fill the site's two vacant units - one of which had been earmarked for the Purple Pig restaurant chain before it went bust last year.

"It has been quite an easy sell once we had plans to take out and show people," explains Mr Hawkins, as we walk past an indoor car park and up a flight of stone steps to a paved outdoor rooftop area that he calls 'the Podium' which looks out towards Darlington Bank Top Station and the River Skerne. The Podium is surrounded by one of the entrances to the cinema and by restaurants which will have outdoor seating areas for people to enjoy an alfresco drink. There is already talk that this part of the site could be used for outdoor film screenings or to co-host events such as food festivals and live performances taking place in the town's market place.

Mr Hawkins says: "It was very much a part of the brief from the council - who I must say have been brilliant to work with - that this was an outward-looking scheme so you could use the outside areas as places for the public to gather, relax and sit.

"If you take that a step further, as company our slogan is that we 'build to keep' so we very much want to integrate the scheme into the town centre because that is the key to it being successful in the long term."

Whereas Terrace Hill were developer-traders who would build a site, sell it and move on to the next development, Urban & Civic build and keep their properties as long term investments. They will stay on as landlords of Feethams and have employed a marketing company Bewonder to promote the site's attractions to the local community.

Mr Hawkins adds: "We signed our development agreement in November 2012, got planning consent 12 months later, started in September 2014 and will open around Easter time this year. These things aren't quick. It is a big complicated scheme involving a number of tenants whom you have to satisfy. I can't see where we could have done it any quicker.

"We are delighted with how it's turned out. I think you would be hard pushed to find a better leisure scheme in the UK in terms of the quality of finish and operator line-up. We are just about there and we are very excited."