CULTURE chiefs have raised the prospect of cutting one or even both cinema screens from Durham’s Gala Theatre.

The arts centre has had to fight hard to get film fans through the doors following a marketing blitz by Odeon, which opened in the city last year.

And with boutique chain Everyman set to open a cinema in the planned riverside Milburngate development bosses have admitted they face a "struggle to be competitive".

Helen Ross, strategic culture manager at Durham County Council, which runs the venue, said:“The Odeon came out quite aggressively, they actually undercut us on some ticket prices.

“We’ve reduced our ticket prices and retained a reasonable amount of our cinema audience, but the expectation is as more people cross the river we might see that diminish.

“Although we’ve retained 75-80 per cent of attendees, we’ve lost income because we’ve cut ticket prices.”

Ms Ross was speaking at a meeting of the county council’s Environment and Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

She added: “We can look at whether we keep one screen or both, whether we turn the space into something else – we hope in the next few months to have an idea of direction.”

While the cinema may give Gala bosses cause for concern they can at least console themselves with the strong performance of the venue’s theatre.

Last year’s pantomime was its most successful since the theatre opened in 2000, selling 33,451 tickets and pulling in nearly £350,000.

Speaking at the meeting, Liberal Democrat opposition councillor Mark Wilkes asked whether more could be done to entice the "massive captive audience" of Durham University’s foreign student population to the cinema for screenings of foreign-language films.

But Ms Ross said previous attempts at hosting seasons of foreign or classic movies had failed to build a sustainable audience, with many customers preferring to go to newer cinemas in Newcastle.