Bournemouth's BH2 in pictures as it turns five

The leisure complex on the site of the former Exeter Road bus station is home to a host of restaurants, cinemas and mini golf.

Here we take a look back at when BH2 was built and how the site looked before.

The site was being used as an NCP car park before BH2 was built on it. 

The former Bournemouth Council had plans to obtain a compulsory purchase order for the site the site and build a bus station in the town centre but these were later abandoned. 

When it opened in 2017, the BH2 multiplex was billed as Odeon’s most “innovative cinema in the UK.”

Speaking to the Echo at the time, Carol Welch, managing director of Odeon UK and Ireland, said: “It is currently our only cinema to feature all of these great new features in one place.

“In 10 years’ time they will be commonplace throughout the country – so we are delighted to bring them all first to our guests in Bournemouth.”

Eight out of the 10 screens at the multiplex have electronically-controlled reclining seats.

The biggest of the cinema screens is in the iSense auditorium and measures 16.9m by 7.19m (55ft by 23ft). The auditorium has an immersive Dolby Atmos sound system with 56-speakers.

For movie fans, the opening of the flagship Odeon was the most momentous occasion since the town’s two Westover Road cinemas were reopened as twin-screen venues in 1969-70.

Last week popular brewery BrewDog became the latest chain to open inside BH2.

Read more: WATCH: Dorset's first ever BrewDog opens 

It offers a 50 per cent plant-based menu and 30 taps of draft beer.

And last year saw Slim Chickens open a branch at the site.