THE Regent in Christchurch is celebrating a bumper year for the box office after seeing its audience numbers increase by over a quarter.

The centre recorded an extra 886 patrons for Glad Rag Production Company's Christmas Spectacular 2016 - a 26 per cent increase from 2015's production, which sold 3,401 tickets.

Meanwhile, Highcliffe Charity Players’ (HCP) audience levels for their 2017 New Year pantomime, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, were also high, boosted by the visit of their patron, actor Guy Henry.

Compared to HCP's pantomime in January 2016, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, this year saw a seven per cent increase in the number of seats sold.

Adding to the box office boost at the Regent was the New Year’s Eve party film, Mamma Mia, which not only sold out but attracted a waiting list at the box office, making it the hottest ticket in town that night.

The news follows the Regent becoming one of only seven independent cinemas in the whole of Europe to be nominated by the Event Cinema Association for the award of Best Independent Cinema for quality and customer satisfaction.

The centre was nominated after achieving the highest admissions in the UK for the 2015/16 season of live satellite screenings from the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet, and also for being ranked as the number one cinema in the UK and Ireland for admissions to Andre Rieu’s 2016 Maastricht Concert screening.

The awards ceremony was held at the QEII Centre in London on February 3. The Regent's newly-appointed general manager, Felicity Porter, was there to see the centre highly commended for its continuing contribution to event cinema in the UK.

She said: “This has been the best ever start to the New Year for the Regent. We are all so pleased that the hard work of the volunteers, staff and board members has been recognised and rewarded.

"I also want to thank our loyal patrons who have supported us through the years for live theatre, films, concerts and event cinema. We already have exciting plans in place to build on this success and make 2017 a year to remember."