Oxford United chairman Firoz Kassam has lined up Hollywood superstar Joan Collins to officially open his leisure park.
Joan Collins The 69-year-old TV, film and stage actress will crack the Champagne at the £22m Ozone development in Grenoble Road, next to the football club's Kassam Stadium, on Saturday, February 21.
Mr Kassam has also revealed he is arranging a special preview of a big film before it goes on general release at about the time of the visit by Miss Collins, whose film credits include The Bitch, The Stud and TV drama Dynasty.
He said: "Joan Collins has accepted our invitation to open the leisure park. We're also trying to arrange a preview of a new movie before it is shown anywhere."
The leisure park includes the nine-screen Ozone cinema and Bowlplex bowling alley and a leisure club, bingo hall and restaurants. Mr Kassam said they would create about 1,000 jobs.
He said he was no longer be looking for a contractor to take over the management of the £8m cinema. Instead he would run it himself, making it the UK's only independent multiplex.
He said: "The early figures are encouraging and there's no reason to hand it over to someone else."
Mr Kassam's upbeat assessment comes just a few months after he declared he wanted to sell the football club and the whole Ozone development, frustrated at what he saw were obstacles being put in his path.
One of the frustrations was a planning restriction affecting parking on match days which meant football games and films could not run at the same time.
But Mr Kassam claims to have got around that by juggling film timings to fit in with the regulations. Mr Kassam said the bingo hall would be completed in the next few weeks with operator Gala lined up to run it, while his company would operate the health club.
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