Penrith and the Border MP Neil Hudson visited the Rheged Centre to celebrate its reopening following lockdown.
The Rheged Centre, near Penrith, reopened this month with a new café and restaurant as its centrepiece.
Dr Hudson was given a tour of the venue, and shown the renovations carried out on site, as well as Rheged’s six-storey high cinema screen, the biggest 3D cinema in the North West.
The centre has also recently opened the sixth Great Print Exhibition, a bespoke annual celebration of the art of printmaking.
He also met with the centre’s operations manager, Kurt North, to discuss the COVID-secure measures the attraction had adopted to keep their visitors safe and spoke to Sarah Dunning, chairman of owners Westmorland Ltd.
She said: “It was a great privilege to welcome Neil to the centre to see what we have achieved in this difficult year.
” We are delighted to see our customers back to visit our new cafe, our print exhibition in our gallery and to do some Christmas shopping. We’re lucky that Rheged has the space to create a really safe environment for customers.”
Dr Hudson added: “I am delighted to see Penrith’s fantastic Rheged Centre reopening after closing in March due to the pandemic.
“Sarah and her team have worked very hard in configuring the centre and ensuring it is safe for returning visitors. I urge people to visit the centre, shop, have something to eat, visit the exhibition or take a trip the cinema for a showing of one of the Christmas films.”