MORE than 1,000 filmgoers went through the doors of Kidderminster's new cinema during its first three days.

By the close of business on Sunday, 1,200 people had visited the four-screen Warehouse Cinema in Green Street - the town's first for more than 20 years.

Kidderminster solicitor, Simon Swaffield, who has backed the project with his own money, said he was "tremendously encouraged by the generous response and support of Kidderminster's film-going public".

He added: "It was an emotional moment when I saw the first filmgoers queuing to buy tickets. I realised after all these months of hard work from the team that the vision had become reality."

People were turned away on Saturday as crowds flocked to the former shoe warehouse, he said.

The opening was not without its hiccups, however. Mr Swaffield said: "Technical problems have included minimal sound and reel slippage at the end of one of the films shown but, in keeping with the old adage, the show has gone on."

Among the first through the door to see thriller The Interpreter on Friday were Ed and Evie Yarnold.

Mr Yarnold, 65, told the Shuttle/Times and News: "We are both grateful there is a cinema in Kidderminster because it is something we have been waiting for for a long time."

Mrs Yarnold said: "I thought it was brilliant. It is really lovely inside. It is beautifully done out."