MERSEYSIDE’S first all-digital cinema will be one of the key attractions in the next phase of ambitious plans to redevelop a Wirral resort.

Operated by Light Digital Cinemas, the new venue will have six screens and 1,000 seats, and will be part of phase two of the regeneration of New Brighton by developers Neptune.

Australian John Sullivan and business partner Keith Pullinger are behind the company, which aims to revolutionise the cinema experience.

The digital cinema will also allow sporting events, theatre, operas and even business conferencing to be viewed on the big screen – as well as showing the latest Hollywood blockbusters.

Mr Sullivan said: “We don’t regard ourselves as arty independents – we’re coming here with an extensive library of the best films and will be hard for anyone to compete against.”

Originally involved in setting up the Warner Village cinemas across the UK, Mr Sullivan joined with Keith Pullinger, who had worked with Virgin Cinema, to set up their own company.

They have recently opened a cinema in Bucharest, bringing to Romania the latest cinema technology.

And it has already had a revolutionary impact – with plans for a wedding to be broadcast from Chicago so relatives who cannot afford the airfare to America to witness the special event for the cost of a cinema ticket.

Mr Sullivan said he was looking ahead to when the current economic gloom lifts, and added: “In the last recession, in the early 1990s, leisure property anchored around the new multiplex cinemas led the way out.

“The same will happen with digital – it will not just be the technology, but the way out.”