Durham City is to open a new development, which will create 1,000 full-time jobs across leisure and hospitality space in the existing Riverside area.

With the redevelopment due to start in spring 2017, Milburngate will be a premium, mixed-use site, which will provide the opportunity for approximately £160 million of inward investment.

The new development will have an Everyman Cinema as the cornerstone of its leisure offering, as well as a variety of premium bars and restaurants, office space and apartments.

Arlington Real Estate, Carillion and Richardson Capital, the developers, are now in the process of concluding lease agreements with a number of leisure operators.

Development director at Carillion, Christopher Ives, said: “Milburngate will breathe new life into the site and continue the positive transformation of the riverside; it will also aid the social, economic and physical regeneration of Durham City."

Also commenting, manging director of Arlington Real Estate, Neil McMillan, said: “The calibre of the operators we are attracting, including Everyman, will add an experience and quality of offer not available in Durham and, indeed, in some instances not available in other parts of the North East. We believe this will increase the number of visitors to the city as consumers increasingly look for something different and unique.”