Thirty-five of the borough’s residents have been given jobs at Empire Cinema as it prepares to open in Walthamstow.

Jobs were given exclusively to candidates from Waltham Forest.

Almost 500 were received for The Scene’s flagship nine-screen cinema which will cater for up to 1,200 cinemagoers at a time.

The new team aged between 18 and 52 will begin three weeks of training from the end of the month across Empire Cinemas in Basildon, Bishops Stortford and Leicester Square.

Opening in November this year, The Scene will also include 121 new homes, as well as shops and restaurants including Nando’s, Pizza Express and Turtle Bay, as part of a multi-million pound investment in Walthamstow Town Centre.