November 2025
The way we spend our leisure time is changing, and as consumers seek new experiences, many businesses are discovering new income streams. In the embattled cinema market, this offers a potential lifeline – as long as landlords, developers, and the cinema groups themselves have the agility to tap into it.
The upcoming Universal theme park in Bedfordshire and the planned Puy du Fou in Oxfordshire are just two examples of how the experience economy has a secure future in the hearts and minds of UK consumers. Further green shoots, from an alternative side of the experience economy, can be seen in Metro Bank’s recent multi-million-pound funding package, provided to support the growth of a holiday-park operator’s portfolio. Also, Kerb, the street-food-market specialist, is now tapping into competitive socialising, opening its inaugural Kerb Social Club at Spitalfields Market.
Against this backdrop of rapid growth in the experience economy, many players in the cinema sector have been under pressure to downsize the movie side of things. Factors such as shorter exclusivity windows, lack of quality content, and streaming platforms producing feature films with big budgets have created a trend towards fewer screens and smaller theatres. With this comes the need to find new ways of bolstering falling box-office revenues, while monetising vacant space. This was a significant factor in the recent Cineworld business failure, with its format of multiplex venues reliant on big box-office releases to service the weight of debt held.
Fortunately, with consumers embracing the experience economy, cinemas have the opportunity to explore a growing range of alternative offers. Some are now repurposing their premises to offer the entertainment today’s market demands. In particular, we’re seeing a rise in competitive socialising, where games and activities are blended with food and drink to attract people in search of more than the traditional night out.
This poses interesting challenges for operators and landlords – and GCW has the sector experience and contacts to help with the repositioning.
For example, at The Rise leisure development in Redhill, where GCW acts on behalf of the landlord, anchor tenant, The Light Cinema, now devotes half of its demise to activities including bowling, climbing, curling, axe throwing, interactive darts and mini-golf – having taken more space from the outset than a standard cinema format would on the old cookie-cutter approach for a leisure development. The Light is at the forefront of cinema diversification, demonstrating how the response to changes in supply and demand in the sector can be both creative and profitable.
This highlights how some landlords are willing to back the established cinema players, and how this can reduce the significantly higher capital outlay involved in developing alternatives. As the experience economy continues to grow and evolve, investing to reduce seat numbers – while providing a more premium experience and pivoting towards alternative leisure activities as part of the format – can reasonably be seen as a wise strategy. We now wait to see how many more are capable of seeing the bigger picture.