BRADFORD'S IMAX cinema at the National Media Museum will close for more than two months for a £780,000 upgrade.

The work, funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, will include fitting a new screen and digital projection system and improved seats with more leg room.

“This upgrade will be incredibly valuable to us, along with our partnership with Picturehouse Cinemas, in achieving our ambition to help make Bradford the place in Yorkshire to see film," said director of the National Media Museum Jo Quinton-Tulloch.

"It means more films for us and the city, and a better experience for our audience."

The extra space to stretch out will mean there will be 218 seats compared to the 240, but there will also be a section of 36 luxury seats.

A final IMAX showing before work starts will be on Thursday, June 25, at 1.30pm, when To Fly!, which was the first IMAX film shown at the museum, will be screened.

The attraction will reopen in September in time to show films such as Spectre and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Bradford's IMAX was the first in Europe when it opened in 1983 and is still the biggest screen in Yorkshire, though the new screen will be marginally narrower than the existing one .

The museum and the Pictureville and Cubby Broccoli cinemas will remain open throughout the work.

The venue may soon have competition in the city centre though.

Plans for a six-screen boutique cinema adjoining The Broadway shopping centre, which will open on November 5, have now been submitted to Bradford Council.

The scheme would convert the mainly vacant units at 14 to 20 Broadway into a cinema, dining and leisure development, creating 100 new jobs.

The application, from building and shopping centre owner Meyer Bergman, follows consultation after the plans went on display in April.

A spokesman for the company said: “We are very pleased that through working closely with Bradford Council and local stakeholders, we are able to bring forward our application. Whilst The Broadway shopping centre already has an enviable location, we intend to add to this distinctive environment through this scheme.

“Local people voiced their opinions and we are confident that as well as offering a scheme that complements The Broadway shopping centre, it will also deliver local jobs and provide high-quality retail and leisure.”

The outline plans also include the demolition of the existing kiosk and a replacement structure.