Hundreds of people have visited Trowbridge’s new cinema today, intrigued to see inside the £3.7m building, which opened at noon.

The first customers at the new seven screen Odeon, which is part of the new St Stephens Place Leisure Park, were given a guided tour of the cinema – the first in the town for three decades.

Alison Burns, Odeon senior retail manager, said: “It is going brilliantly well, there was a quite queue to get in just before we opened and we are really pleased with how things have started.”

One of the first through the door was Nick Gibbons, 41, and his son Kai, who is celebrating his fifth birthday today. They went to see new animated film Turbo in 3D.

Mr Gibbons, of Westbury Leigh, said: “It felt nice being one of the first people in. It looks really good inside and I was surprised by just how compact and well designed it is.

“It has been a nice birthday treat for Kai, we’ve really enjoyed ourselves and we’ll definitely be coming back again in the future.”

The cinema boasts a licensed bar, ice cream parlour and Costa coffee shop.

Last night, it held a VIP launch party treating guests to a free screening one of three films; Captain Phillips, Rush and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.

Work is still being carried out at the £17m leisure park which will home an 80-bed Premier Inn, a Nando’s, Prezzo and Frankie & Benny’s when it’s completed. There will also be three more restaurants on site but the occupiers haven’t been announced yet.

Simon Russian, from Legal & General, the site’s developer, said: “It is fantastic to see the cinema open and people enjoying it as they’ve waited a long time for this. I’d like to congratulate our contractor Leadbitter for doing such a good job on the site.”

Nando’s is expected to open on November 6, with the hotel opening on November 17 and Prezzo on December 12.

For cinema listings at Trowbridge’s Odeon visit www.odeon.co.uk/cinemas/trowbridge/216/.