to wish that there were more old fashioned cinemas around.

[Vintagejazz]

They all seem to be disappearing and being replaced by large omniplexes, usually located in big soulless shopping centres beside motorways, with vast car parks that don't even feel that safe late at night.

AIBU to secretly long for the nice old fashioned cinemas located on the street, with one or two screens, and people queueing outside to get in and old plush seats and nice middle aged women with torches showing you to your seat and selling a few sweets and small tubs of ice cream at a little counter beside the ticket office.

Now it's all escalators and long corridors and massive buckets of popcorn and super large cokes and it's just not-the-same.

YANBU. There's one fairly close to me that we go to a lot, it's lovely, you can even get mugs of tea and coffee during the intermission
So much nicer and cheaper than the multiplexes.

Sorry 'omniplex' is the name of a cinema in Dublin. I meant 'multiplex'

There's a couple very close to me in Leeds. They are great!

i used to live near a lovely one where you could have wine and olives while watching. and sweet well-mannered teenagers (not middle-aged women, sorry) showing you to your seat with torches. but you had to book well in advance like the theatre, it was difficult to rock up on the night

Idontseeanysontarans
YANBU. There's one fairly close to me that we go to a lot, it's lovely, you can even get mugs of tea and coffee during the intermission

I did exactly that in the last week. Lovely.

Thing is, there's limited parking, the tickets are a bit more expensive than the multiplex - about 1 per ticket which isn't much but adds up. The thing with fewer screens means that it can take longer for a film to come round or it just doens't come at all or might only be on for a few nights. The refereshments are loads cheaper than the multiplexes though and don't have that wall of pic n mix.

Much nicer expereince all round I think despite the limitations.

alpaca that's where i used to go

No I'm in Dublin and I don't think there's a single old fashioned cinema left. When there was a couple still dotted around the suburbs I used to always check if the film I wanted to see was on there first, before going elsewhere.
I was at Gone Girl last night and it was over quite late so we were the last group out of the multiplex and it just looked so dreary - a long, long black and white corridor with a cleaner mopping the floor in the middle of a large shopping centre with all the shops closed for the night.

You need the Electric Cinema in Birmingham which is a really nice old fashioned cinema. Two screens and a lovely bar selling film themed cocktails and cakes amongst other things! My favourite thing is that you can book sofa seats at the back and these come with text waiter service so you can have drinks and snacks brought to your seat during the film. No popcorn!

Theres a little independent near to me that shows arthouse films but i've never been. I'd rather go to the multiplex and get a coffee and cake from the Starbucks there and smuggle in some haribo.

The Savoy in Dublin is still pretty old fashioned...red velvet curtains across the screen etc. There's also the Lighthouse cinema, and IFI.
I used to love the Stella in Rathmines...especially the double seats at the back nudge nudge wink wink

We have one here, but never get much chance to go. Maybe if they did some special event type stuff like the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square, I might go more (themed all nighters with 5-6 films for one price, sing/quotealongs).

I love going to Harbourlights Picture House in Southampton.

They still exist here.

Problem with the little independent cinemas is they can't get all the new releases at the same time as the huge complexes. People just can't cope with having to wait a few weeks to see a film so they drive to the soulless out of town cinemas and pay for more for the film and refreshments! We have a fab one in our nearest town but it is mainly run by volunteers.

YANBU when I was a student there were two on the Main Street of my uni town. They were so cheap- £2.20 for a weekday matinee!- and we spent lots of time in them. Both gone now If you're a student with no car, it's really hard to get to multiplexes.
Also, RIP Cheltenham Odeon. Went here all the time as a teenager (again, much easier to access than an out of town multiplex). Had such a lovely Art Deco facade as well

m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-28836025

cheeseford.net/gallery/index.php/The-architecture-of-pleasure/1998_Cheltenham_Gaumont_Odeon_ext

In theory it would be lively. But I have to say the Vue which is the nearest to me has much comfier seats and is tiered so you don't spend 2 hours looking at the back of someone's head.

I went to the teeny cinema in my parents town last Christmas and came out with a crick in my neck from trying to see past the person in front while trying not to fidget on the hard seats :(

Lovely

Look for an independent one, there are some around. Where abouts are you? Someone may know of one.

Ah Fubsy we had the exact opposite experience when we went recently - the seats are on a good slope so you see over heads and there is space between your seat and the seat in front.

I do love it, but with it only having one screen, the chances of me actually having the opportunity to go and this co-incding with a film I want to see are slim to none.

I am in Dublin. Yes, the IFI is lovely and I often go there, but it's more Arthouse than local old fashioned cinema.
When I was a child we had the Kenilworth in Harold's Cross, the Classic in Terenure, the Stella in Rathmines and the Ormonde in Stillorgan. The Kenilworth and Classic are long gone, and the Stella disappeared about ten years ago and has been replaced by the Swan multiplex while the Ormonde has become a multiplex as well.
Those old cinemas were the kind your Dad could drop you to on a Saturday afternoon and when you came out he would be standing there waiting for you. There is no way that anyone would drop young children off at a multiplex and just come back to collect them when the film was over.
Different times, but sometimes I really miss the simplicity of much of my childhood years

YABU, I live in Dublin also. I would go to the IFI quite a bit as some of the films I want to see don't get shown in the Big cinemas. I hate it, I'm quite tall, it's so uncomfortable, little or no leg room and going to the bathroom is a big deal. I don't like the Savoy either.

I love modern cinema's, VUE in Liffey Valley is my favourite, I love sitting in my VIP seats with plenty of leg room. Only thing I don't like is the fact that they have all gone digital, I miss good old fashioned film. God bless Chris Nolan.

We have one in our city, near where I used to work. They even have double seats for those who want to snuggle up.

There's one near us that is a bargain. It sells sweets and drinks at a realistic price, has an intermission so you can get an ice cream and it still has an organ which gets played by their resident organist. :o

I like the old-fashioned ones too, or any that don't serve smelly nachos and the like. In my experience, the availability of nachos and related crap at the cinema is directly related to the likelihood of there being talkers/phone chatters/other socially inept behaviour among the audience.

Have a look and see if there's an Everyman Cinema near you.

We go to the Oxted branch and it's so much nicer than the multiplex cinemas. There's a bar/café in the foyer so you can have a nice coffee and a slice of cake or a glass of wine and you can take your drink into the film with you.

They also have ushers selling little tubs of ice cream in the auditorium before the film starts.