THE much-delayed Warner Village cinema in Worcester will now not open until November - almost six months later than the date originally set.

The £9m cinema complex was originally planned to open on Friday, July 14 this year, a date later put back to Friday, August 18.

Now the owners have had to name Friday, November 10, as the new opening date, blaming the ''intricate'' nature of the development.

"Troika, the company managing the development of the Friar Street project confirmed the revised date with Warner Village Cinemas following discussions with Ernest Ireland, the construction company, who have reprogrammed construction works in line for the November opening," said a spokeswoman for Warner.

''Warner Village Cinemas acknowledges that the sensitive city centre development has proved to be a very intricate project, given the complex architectural and historical design implications of the site."

Ivan Bennett, Warner's project manager, admitted the company had misjudged the demands posed by the site.

"Given that the cinema is designed to fit in with the historic surroundings of Friar Street, its construction has been more labour intensive than would normally be required," he said.

The site has been dogged by delays, with builders having to deal with underground fuel tanks and an unusually wet April.

Developers have also complained about the restrictions imposed by English Heritage due to Roman remains under the 1,300-seat building.

That criticism angers city archaeologists, who say developers have known from day one what restrictions would be in place.

"These are things that should have been foreseen and programmed, so to suggest that archaeology should be blamed for more delay is not on," said Worcester City Council archaeologist James Dinn.