Odeon cinemas offer free movie tickets to thank NHS staff

A national cinema chain has announced it is giving thousands of free cinema tickets to NHS key workers to express gratitude to them for their hard work during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Odeon cinemas has begun offering Blue Light Card members the free tickets, as a way of saying thank you to these public sector heroes across the country.

The Blue Light Card scheme is the UK’s largest Emergency Service discount and NHS discount service for UK public sector.

The cinema has announced members will have the opportunity to choose from a mix of recent and remastered classics including Onward, Unhinged, Inception, Trolls World Tour, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Dirty Dancing and Oscar-winning Parasite in a new black and white version.

The special offer has been made available in 26 of the venue’s outlets, including at the Odeon Luxe Broadway Plaza at Five Ways in Birmingham.

Carol Welch, Managing Director of the cinema’s UK complexes, said: “At Odeon, we recognise how NHS staff and key workers up and down the country have worked tirelessly during this challenging time.

“We want to show our gratitude by offering Blue Light Card members a free pair of cinema tickets to watch a film of their choice and enjoy some much deserved cinema time.”

The offer of freebies for key workers comes after Odeon announced the reopening of its cinemas last month, with new health and safety measures in place.

The entertainment venue said it was working with the UK Cinema Association and UK Government to introduce enhanced health and safety measures to each site, including social distancing in auditoriums and foyers, additional cleaning regimes, and a request to book tickets online prior to arrival.

Several other cinema chains including Cineworld and Vue have also partially resumed services since July 4, screening select films at limited periods while aiming to maintain health and safety as a priority.

Preventative measures at cinemas to stop the spread of COVID-19 include online booking, social distancing, staff training and PPE, staggered film times, social distancing, hand sanitising stations, distanced seating and additional cleaning. In line with new government guidelines, face coverings must be worn in cinemas but can be removed when eating and drinking.

According to Odeon cinemas website, “We’re limiting the number of seats for sale for each film and guaranteeing unoccupied seats between parties to meet social distancing requirements. We’re staggering the show start times to reduce queues and operating safe queuing measures with floor markings and cinema host support.”

WATCH: How ODEON has made their cinemas safer:

For the ODEON cinemas special offer for key workers, free tickets for Blue Light Card members can be redeemed via www.bluelightcard.co.uk from 3rd August to 25th August 2020.

Members can redeem the offer by requesting the free pair of Odeon tickets on their Blue Light Card online account. A code will be issued which can then be used online at www.odeon.co.uk to secure their tickets to see a film of their choice at any UK ODEON cinema open for business. To find out which cinemas are participating, please see the Odeon website for details.