A WORRIED landlady whose pub is just across the road from York's Odeon Cinema says closure would be "very bad" for her business.

Dee Ralph, who has run the Bay Horse in Blossom Street for more than 20 years, said the picture house generates a great deal of trade both before and after screenings.

The Evening Press revealed on Thursday that the Odeon's bosses had confirmed that the site was being assessed for its "economic viability" and staff were told that it may be put on the market.

"The Odeon has played a big part in the pub's life," said Dee, who is one of York's longest serving landlady's.

"Its closure would badly affect our business - we do very well from cinema-goers coming in for a drink. I let parents come in with their kids before the Saturday matinees and people come in from all over the place."

Dee said cinema-goers use the pub to recover after watching a sad film or to share jokes from a smash-hit comedy.

"Customers come in crying or laughing depending what film they've seen," she said.

"One of my best memories was when Fatal Attraction was showing at the Odeon. A lot of husbands came in with their wives looking ashen-faced and I said I bet they wouldn't be cheating on their wives now!"

She said she thought City of York Council should try to save the cinema. "It's the last proper city centre cinema and is ideal for people who haven't got cars," she said.

"The question is: what would they replace it with? York has more than enough flats."

Dee said the cinema's bosses should have smartened up the site when the Warner Brothers multiplex first opened in Clifton Moor.

"It just looks tatty at the moment," she said.

Pub manageress Alison Shippey, 29, said if the Odeon was forced to close, it should be replaced by another community attraction, like an ice rink.

"There's nothing much for kids to do round here as it is."

Updated: 10:51 Saturday, November 29, 2003