A new family-orientated leisure venue has opened in Karaoğlanoğlu.
The Russian-owned Starlux complex, which will have three cinema screens with 3D capability, a theatre, bar café and restaurant, aims to provide fun for children while their parents watch a film.
It launched last Saturday, near the Near East and Koop banks, with plans for a grand opening next month.
Its Jupiter salon can hold 56 people in double and single seats and the Mars “VIP room” 36 in double seats. The Starkids salon, for use by adults after 9.30pm, can seat 42.
Meanwhile animators, face-painters and amateur performers will also be on hand to organise games, karaoke and other activities for four- to 12-year-olds in the play area.
The basement theatre will open after January and an outdoor restaurant, with big screens for football matches to be shown, will launch in spring.
Construction of the 3,000m2 venue, costing over £1 million, began in March last year and is the venture of Çatalköy resident Elena Kochkina, 42, a former travel agent and mother of one.
She said: “I have been living in North Cyprus for 11 years and realised the lack of this kind of place which allows parents to go to the cinema while their children are looked after and enjoying themselves safely.
“We try and make children feel like it’s their birthday every day when they come along to the play area.”
She added: “I was inspired by the cinemas in Russia which are small and cosy, similar to a home cinema.”
By Yasemin Gulpinar for Cyprus Today
