THE region's first multiplex cinema is to be bulldozed as part of a university's £60m expansion.
The 15-year-old Warner Village cinema, in Newcastle, will close later this year, with the loss of about 50 jobs.
Northumbria University has bought the seven-acre site for an undisclosed sum, as part of its scheme to build a new city campus.
It has outgrown its Sandyford Road main campus and needs more space for its 2,600 staff.
A spokesman for Vue Entertainment, which bought the Warner site in May last year, said the nine-screen cinema would remain open until Easter.
The £5m site, the region's first US-style multiplex, was opened by Australian pop star Kylie Minogue in December 1989.
There has been increasing pressure for its closure in the past 12 months, following the successful opening of an Odeon cinema in the city's futuristic Gate entertainment centre.
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