Empire Cinemas Limited is a multiplex cinema chain in the UK. There are 14 Empire Cinemas across the country, with 131 screens in total. Ownership and management The ultimate beneficial owner of Empire Cinemas Ltd is Irish entrepreneur Thomas Anderson. Anderson also owns Inspiration Holdings Ltd, a company which now owns Altive Media, Pearl & Dean advertising company, Titan Parking and Clarkebond. The CEO of Empire Cinemas, Nolly, is also an Executive Director of Inspiration Holdings. History Empire was originally a cinema in Leicester Square in London which opened in 1884 as the Empire Theatre and was a West End variety theatre, designed by Thomas Verity. Empire Cinemas Limited was formed in 2005 when Empire acquired the cinemas divested from Odeon Cinemas and Cineworld after the Office of Fair Trading had required them to divest 11 of the Odeon chain and six of the Cineworld chain. In 2005, both Odeon and the UK operations of UCI were taken over by Terra Firma who planned to merge the businesses under the Odeon brand. At the same time, Cineworld took over the UK and Ireland operations of UGC and began merging them into their existing Cineworld brand. Empire Cinemas Ltd acquired both groups of available cinemas and began to rebrand them all as Empire Cinemas. In July 2016, the company sold five cinemas, including the flagship in Leicester Square, to Cineworld cinemas for £94 million. The cinemas transferred to Cineworld cinemas on 12 August 2016. In June 2017 the Newcastle upon Tyne cinema was also sold to Cineworld cinemas In March 2020, Empire Cinemas and all other cinemas in the UK closed temporarily due to a national lockdown in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Magazine Empire, in conjunction with cinema chain Showcase, publishes Escape, a bi-monthly customer magazine, distributed free at 50 cinemas. It contains film reviews, interviews and competitions. Current locations Ealing site controversy Empire Cinemas closed its Ealing cinema on 5 September 2008 and demolished the cinema in early 2009 for redevelopment, retaining the front facade. Empire had not yet started building work on the new cinema or (according to Ealing Council) presented a timescale for the building work as of 25 July 2011, so Ealing Council started to pursue a compulsory purchase of the Ealing cinema site. At a council meeting attended by CEO Justin Ribbons on 28 June 2011, Mr Ribbons responded to the council's complaints, saying