A CINEMA operator for the town centre will be secured by summer the council has said, plunging rival plans for a multiplex at the Alhambra into disarray.

The shopping centre owners, BMO Real Estate Partners, announced ambitious plans for a £9m multi-screen cinema two years ago. Work was supposed to start in April 2015 and it should have opened this spring.

However, the blockbuster project has failed to get off the ground and an operator has still not been signed up.

BMO was dealt a further blow last year when Barnsley Council revealed its intention to include a cinema as part of the £100m Better Barnsley town centre regeneration scheme, pitting directly against the Alhambra’s own proposed rooftop development.

The council said there is only room for one multiplex in the town and bosses are confident it will come top of the bill in the race to secure an operator - with the credits looking likely to roll on the Alhambra scheme.

Read more in this weeks Barnsley Chronicle