THE new £12 million Warner Village Cinema in Horwich has been the victim of its own success.

The sheer volume of customers since it opened a month ago has created a soaring number of complaints.

But cinema bosses say most of the teething problems have now been sorted out and the vast majority of people have been enjoying the new cinema.

It opened on the Middlebrook Retail and Leisure Park with a flourish on January 12 with a party costing around £250,000.

But within days the advanced-booking telephone system had broken down under the strain of calls.

And the cinemas have been so full, people have complained they've had to sit too close to the screens.

The first week broke records for the number of visitors for a new cinema as 26,000 people of all ages went along.

Since then, an amazing 25,000 people have been going every week.

Twenty seven-year-old manager Simon Tomlinson admits that things would have been easier if the success had come more gradually.

"The number of people has made the teething problems more obvious," he explained.

"The expectation has been so great that people have been more disappointed than they would have been.

"They would probably go to other multiplexes and put up with inconveniences, whereas they haven't with us."

The cinema's phone system left many people hanging up in frustration but Simon insists the problem has been ironed out.

He said that in the first weekend alone 2,500 calls were "lost" as people were cut off or could not get through to an operator.

"It's been a big problem but we are working it out.

"It was a combination of a fault in the software and the unexpected number of calls.

"We understand how frustrating it must have been for callers," he said.

He has now employed four full-time staff to take advanced bookings and the number of phone lines has been cut to prevent the system from overloading.

The overall number of staff has been increased from 55 to 80.

Simon hopes problems with the seating have been solved now that in the big screen 45 seats are deliberately left empty.

The heating system was also a problem because it kept shutting itself off.

Now the system has been reprogrammed to last for the duration of the film.

There have also been problems with fire alarm system.

But Simon has now got permission from the fire authorities to allow a three-minute delay before the cinema is evacuated to check for false alarms.

Simon, who has been promoted and will be moving to Leeds in May, said: "It's taken off with a boom.

"The majority of customers seem to be quite understanding.

"The complaints are getting less and less.

"Ninety-five per cent of it we got right.

"We are bringing to Bolton something that's normally left in London with things like the glitzy celebrity party to open it."

Some of the innovative features of the cinema are the hi-tec box office area with banks of TVs that can turn from a kiddies' cartoon show into a laser disco at the flick of a switch.

And as Britain's only 24-hour cinema, films can be shown all night.

But Simon said the 24-hour licence would be only used on special occasions such as Halloween.

He added: "The majority of people say they do like it apart from the one or two problems we have had."

"We do listen to the customers.

"Any complaints or worries help us in a way because they identify areas we need to look at to give customer satisfaction."

The advanced booking number for the cinema is 01204 669668 and the information line recorded message is 01204 669988. Close encounter of the screen kind can be a headache A BOLTON cinema-goer says her sister-in-law had to keep her eyes closed as they watched The Devil's Advocate - to stop herself from getting migraine.

Pat Stanley said she and her sister-in-law Margherita Atherton had to sit too close to the screen - despite booking seats further away.

Mrs Stanley, aged 38, of Church Road, Kearsley, said she thought she had reserved the seats but when she arrived, discovered there was someone sitting in her place.

But she found the cinema did not have a policy of reserving specific seats and was later told to get there early if she wanted to make sure of where she was sitting.

The pub landlady said: "I'm disgusted. We had to sit on the front row right next to the wall. It was an appalling view. It was like we were looking in their ear hole."

She said sister-in-law Margherita couldn't bear to look at the screen while they watched the film, starring Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves.

Margherita had to keep her eyes closed to stop herself from becoming ill.

Mrs Stanley said: "My sister-in-law sat with her eyes closed all night.

"Things like sitting so close to a screen set her off.

"She said she couldn't sleep very well that night at all and that her head was thumping."

The cinema gave them complementary tickets for the inconvenience.

Mrs Stanley said she had been impressed by the cinema on a previous visit but said she wouldn't go again if they kept the current seating policy.

She added she had wanted to take a party of 12 youngsters to see Flubber staring Robin Williams.

But said she was not going to go if the cinema couldn't guarantee they would all be seated together.

"They told me to come in early but can you imagine 12 little ones with nothing to do for half an hour but stare at nothing?

"It's a terrible situation, they should do something about it."

Simon Tomlinson, cinema general manager, said they were considering introducing pre-booked seating for busy periods and at weekends.

He said: "The issue of seating is something we haven't decided yet. In some regions, pre-booking works well.

"In other areas, people prefer just to turn up and sit where they like. We are still finding out what people in this area want and will be experimenting."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.