David Dimbleby.

This is David Dimbleby he use to be the presenter of Question Time before he retired back in December 2018 just before Christmas. He was just as good as Fiona Bruce is at presenting Question Time now and he was just as good as her and this is him inside of the Question Time Studio where Question Time is Live and held in when it is Live on BBC One on the television Live on telly.

Question Time.

I love watching Question Time every week after every Thursday night after it has been on then. I have never missed an episode of Question Time since Fiona Bruce took over from David Dimbleby since he retired three years ago in December back at Christmas 2018 and I think he is good presenting Question Time as David Dimbleby was when he use to be the presenter of Question Time.

Cineworld

Cineworld Group is a British cinema company based in London, England. It is the world’s second-largest cinema chain (after AMC Theatres), with 9,518 screens across 790 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, United Kingdom and the United States.The group’s primary brands are Cineworld and Picturehouse in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Cinema City in Eastern and Central Europe, Yes Planet in Israel, and Regal Cinemas in the United States.

As of March 2018, Cineworld was the leading cinema operator in the UK by box office market share (based on revenue). It operated, at that time, 99 cinemas and over 1,017 screens, including Cineworld Dublin—Ireland’s single largest multiplex by screens and customer base.[Cineworld Glasgow Renfrew Street is the tallest cinema in the world and the busiest, by customer base, in the UK. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

On 8 October 2020, Cineworld indefinitely closed its cinemas in the UK, Ireland, and United States, citing the delay of tentpole films due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema. CEO Mooky Greidinger said the cinemas would reopen when more film releases were scheduled.

Cineworld was founded by Steve Wiener in 1995.The first Cineworld theatre opened in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in July 1996. A second theatre opened in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in December 1996 and the third opened in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, in 1998. In 2004, Cineworld was acquired by Blackstone private equity group for £120m. The following year, Cineworld acquired the UK and Ireland operations of French cinema company UGC.

In December 2012, Cineworld acquired the Picturehouse Cinema chain, adding 21 cinemas to its portfolio, including The Little Theatre in Bath, Brighton’s Duke of York’s cinema, the Cameo, Edinburgh, the Phoenix in Oxford and the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton.

The Blackstone Group, which had invested in Cineworld when it was privately owned, sold its entire remaining 20% shareholding in November 2010.In August 2013, The Guardian revealed that Cineworld employs 80% of its 4,300 staff on zero hour contracts. In October 2013, the Chester location was closed due to the landowner wanting to develop the land into a supermarket.

In 2014, Cineworld’s Picturehouse chain was subject to industrial action owing to its refusal to pay the London living wage to its staff. The workforce attracted the support of Eric Cantona. On 27 February 2014, Cineworld completed the takeover of Cinema City International N.V.. As of March 2015, the Greidinger family (who owned a controlling 54% stake in Cinema City International) held a controlling bloc as the largest shareholders in the enlarged company.

In May 2014, Mooky Greidinger joined the board of directors as CEO, having previously been CEO of Cinema City International.

In 2015, Picturehouse unveiled their new West End flagship site, ‘Picturehouse Central’,  a 1,000 seat, seven-screen cinema on Shaftesbury Avenue near Piccadilly Circus in central London. In August 2016 Cineworld acquired six cinemas from Empire Cinemas, including the Empire Theatre in London’s West End, and 4 other locations in Basildon, Poole, Bromley and Hemel Hempstead. Empire Newcastle was also acquired by Cineworld the following year.

In November 2017, Cineworld began merger talks with the US cinema chain Regal Cinemas. On 5 December, it was officially announced that Cineworld would buy Regal for US$3.6 billion (£2.7 billion), creating the world’s second largest cinema group. It would also allow Cineworld access to the US market, the largest in the world. The acquisition was completed in 2018.

This blog was made by Simon Schofield

The Gate, Newcastle

History

The venue takes its name from the street on which it stands, Newgate Street. It is part of the historic Grainger Town area of Newcastle. It was opened on 28 November 2002.

The Gate has 19 venues spread across three floors, including a 16-screen Cineworld Cinema and Aspers Casino. The Gate is also next to Newcastle’s Chinatown; there is an entrance on Stowell Street. The Gate building was built to replace the 35-year-old, 7-storey Newgate House, which was home to the prolific music venue; The Mayfair club. Mood Bar opened on 28 November 2002, the same time as The Gate.

The 19,235 m2, £80 million venue was built by Land Securities and the 12-metre-tall (39 ft) sculpture outside, “Ellipsis Eclipses”, was designed by Danny Lane. The 24-metre-high (79 ft) glass façade was designed by Space Decks Limited.[4] The Odeon Cinema (later Empire, now Cineworld) was built to replace the 71-year-old Odeon/Paramount cinema on Pilgrim Street, which after the Gate’s opening remained disused until its demolition in 2017. The Gate provided 400 new jobs when opened and a further 600 during construction.

In 2004 BDP Lighting won a Lighting Design award for their work at The Gate.

The Gate won the Property Week award for Best Commercial UK Mixed-Use Leisure Scheme, and the British Toilet Association awarded The Gate a Loo of the Year Award and awarded it five stars.

In 2010 Jamie Ritblat‘s property company, Delancey, bought The Gate in a £900 million package of properties from PropInvest Group, in partnership with the Royal Bank of Scotland. In 2012 The Gate was sold to the Crown Estate for £60 million

This blog was made by Simon Schofield

tyne tunnel

Tyne Tunnel goes cashless – how it works, how to pay the toll and how to top-up

The toll booths are closed as Tyne Pass launches, it means motorists now drive straight through the Tyne Tunnel without having to stop at barriers

Drivers using the Tyne Tunnels can no longer use cash to pay the toll fare.

The tunnels have switched to a cashless ‘open road tolling’ system called ‘Tyne Pass’ which means motorists drive straight through the tunnels without stopping at a toll booth to pay the £1.90 fare for cars, small vans and small buses.

Motorists must still pay a fare to use the Tyne Tunnel. An Automatic Number Plate Recognition system will log their number plate. But Tunnel users can no longer pay at the toll plaza. Instead, they have several payment options. They can use a pre-paid top-up account or pay their fare after their journey, either online, over the phone or at a PayPoint till, which are found in shops around the country.

How to pay to use the Tyne Tunnel

Motorists using the Tyne Tunnel have several payment options. They can choose to use a prepaid account, which will be deducted from automatically after passing through the tunnels, or they can pay later, either online, over the phone or at a PayPoint till in retailers across the country.

TT2 says: “Open Road Tolling means there will no longer be a need to stop at a toll plaza; we will use an advanced Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system to detect your Vehicle Registration Number and we’ll either deduct the toll from your account or you can pay by midnight the day after your journey on our website, via our automated top-up line or at a PayPoint by cash.”

How does the Tyne Tunnel’s new system work?

Before Monday November 8, motorists using the Tyne Tunnel had to stop at a toll booth before they could re-enter the A19 after passing through the tunnels. They could either pay the toll immediately, using cash, or choose to pay later.

But as of November 8, motorists are no longer required to stop at the toll plaza when using the tunnel between Jarrow, South Tyneside and Howdon, North Tyneside. Instead, they now have drive straight through the tunnel and back onto the main road without stopping. The idea behind the Tyne Pass open road tolling system is to speed up Tyne Tunnel journeys, which owner T2 says will improve journey times and cut emissions.

But the new system doesn’t mean the tunnel is free to use for car, van, lorry and bus drivers. They will still have to pay, and their number plates will be logged by a camera system.

This blog was made by Simon Schofield