Work on Ealing's long-delayed Filmworks cinema is finally set to start in December - but a completion date still remains unknown.

Developers St George PLC announced that work will begin on the 1,000 seater cinema at the end of this year after purchasing the site from Land Securities in August.

Land Securities had been working on the development since 2012 and had set a target of opening the facility in 2018.

But that date now hangs in the balance after a spokesperson for St George PLC admitted the purchase of the site meant that time had been lost .

'We intend to commence development in December'

Now a spokesperson for the developers said: "St George had a very positive meeting with LB Ealing and we are pleased to confirm that we intend to commence development in December.

"There is still much to be done to be ready to achieve this, but we are committed to this development and delivering a new cinema, shops, restaurants and homes for Ealing.

"We are unable to provide further detail at this stage but will do so as soon as we can."

The current scheme is set to have a mix of restaurants, cafés, shops and bars, 161 new homes and a landscaped public square .

The £100m development near Ealing Town Hall, connecting Walpole Park with Bond Street and Ealing Broadway, is also set to feature eight new screens as part of the cinema complex.

Concerns had been raised that St George PLC would seek to change details in the planning application, but the developers said they would not do so without consulting residents.

'Ealing has been without a cinema for too long'

Labour Ealing Council leader, Councillor Julian Bell, said: "Ealing town centre has been without a cinema for far too long and a great deal of work has been going on behind the scenes to bring it back.

"This week I had a very productive meeting with the new owner of the site, Tony Pidgley and his team of St George, this week and I am delighted to say that they told me that construction work should start this December.

"After years of delays some residents may feel that we have heard these kinds of promises before, but we have confidence that St George, who have already delivered more than 300 homes at Dicken's Yard just across the road, will get on with building the cinema and this will not be another false dawn.

"They are committed to building high-quality developments and I expect the new cinema and cultural quarter to be a wonderful asset to our revitalised town centre."