Cinemas have been welcoming back customers around the country, with a few changes.

They re-opened as part of phase three of the Government's roadmap - along with leisure facilities, bingo halls, arcades, skating rinks and amusements parks.

Newstalk's Henry McKean went to check out the Odeon in Blanchardstown, Dublin for The Hard Shoulder.

There isn't ice-cream scoops, there's no pick-n-mix and people are seated far apart from each other.

Picture by: Henry McKean

However groups of people can sit together if they wish, but will be separated from others.

While capacity has been reduced by about 50%.

This woman told him she came back to the cinema "to get nachos and cheese and salsa and guacamole.

"I'm not nervous, no".

"I do like to go and see a movie, but I haven't had cinema food in four months."

One man said: "I've been wanting to go to the cinema actually for a couple of months now.

"Obviously I couldn't have a moment to myself because of lockdown, but now that it's open again I'm just thrilled to be back and seeing my favourite movies again.

"It's about those couple of hours that you have alone with yourself or with family or friends - where you just get to sit down with no interruptions and just get to enjoy the moment".

Picture by: Henry McKean

"It's just quality time, it's one of my favourite things to do in my spare time".

Another man said he was "happy enough with the social distancing and things like that".

And another man told Henry: "I really missed the cinema, because I just really love coming [with] my family and my friends - it's just such a great way to come together".

Regional operations manager at Odeon Cinemas, Siobhan Carr, said: "They're really responsive to the measures that we've put in place.

"As soon as you come to the cinema you can see that things are different - so we've put different queuing measures in place, making sure there's social distancing available in the lobby.

"And then when you come into the screens, you'd be seated by one of our trained cinema hosts, making sure that you are secure and safe in your bubble and that social distancing is in place in all the screens".

Picture by: Henry McKean

Asked about customers wearing face coverings, she said: "We're following all the Government guidelines, so if guests feel comfortable wearing masks they're more than welcome to.

"We're seeing a mix... some guests liking to wear masks and some guests not at the moment.

"And as long as that's the Government guidelines that it's advisory, that's how we'll advise our guests as well".