AIBU to want to take my own food to the cinema?

[Butteredpars1ps]

I suspect I am. But We are going to the cinema around lunchtime and I will be hungry. I don't like nachos, popcorn or hotdogs or anything else like to be on offer and I have a fridge full of lovely things left from Christmas.

Am I wrong to be tempted to smuggle in a cheese and pickle sarnie?

I've seen psychology papers about this. Basically if you are engaging emotionally with the film, your hormones and instincts are telling you to "do something" about whatever tense situation is on screen. Obviously our conscious mind knows it is just a story and knows not to leap into action but our subconscious is still a bit stressed. Eating soothes that stress and makes the subconscious feel that everything is under control

Audiences at live theatre, opera and ballet cope perfectly well.

Trip to poundland for us before cinema. Drinks and chocolate smuggled in

If it's a meal time showing I always take sandwiches for any children with me. And bottles of water. Much cheaper than cinema junk food.

Ive been to loads of theatres with people eating...most sell sweets, and icecream

No cinema can legally stop you

Of course they can. If their terms & conditions say you are not allowed to bring your own food they can legally refuse entry or confiscate your food. They may also have other grounds for refusal of entry in their terms and conditions which could be used. Many cinemas will allow you to take your own food but they are legally entitled to stop you from doing so.

I take water & sweets (quiet ones like a share bag of chocolate buttons) or buy cinema popcorn. I let the 11 yo buy sweets as she only chooses a few and it's part of the experience for her. I take sweets if we are taking friends kids though as it's FAR too expensive if they fill the pot which most kids tend to).

I must be quite lucky around here though as I've never seen/heard/smelt anyone eating actual food - certainly nothing like a greasy roast chicken or McD's.

However, it's only a matter of time before someone ne gets their phone rammed down their throats. The fecking light from the screen is so distracting and annoying! I don't care if you are bored by the kids film - think about something else, have a snooze or wait outside!

Glad Jemima and TinDog have pointed out there are different types of cinema... And as others have said the distributors take a large whack of ticket income.

I work for an independent community cinema and we sell popcorn, ice cream and sweets - they are more expensive than Poundland because we are only buying in small quantities so we can't make big savings ourselves, but we keep them as cheap as possible and not in massive portion sizes. We rely on our customers to support us by making an occasional purchase and not bringing their own food in.

We also sell naice coffee and it is amazing how many people bring a Costa in - more expensive and not as nice.

'expat, you're obnoxious on every thread I see you on. '

Hahaha! Pot.kettle.black, dear. You're forever virtue signalling and letting others know what terrible people they are. But hey, at least the rest of us can enjoy our food at cinema since the dour-faces say they don't go anymore. More for us! Eat, drink and be merry!

'I used to smoke though. God that WAS bad. Rows and rows of chainsmokers in an enclosed space. '

OMG!

Bitof, I'd just get up and move.

YANBU. When I take my dcs to the cinema they all have the 'kids pack' which is a medium drink, medium popcorn and a chocolate bar. It's around £5 each. They love it and it's part of the treat. They go probably once a month. When dh and I go, twice a month usually, I always take a bottle of squash, sometimes I need to take medication and sometimes cough so a drink makes me less aggravating. We also take some sweets or chocolate, nothing noisy or smelly. I Could go 2/3 hrs without chocolate but it's nice to have something. I always throw our rubbish away in the bins on the way out and don't check my phone.

No cinema can legally stop you

As prh47 said of course they can. Any cinema, restaurant, hotel, shop and the like has the right to determine whatever rules it wants as to who takes access to their premises and how. The only restrictions are if the rules breach any protected characteristic which a blanket ban on taking your own food in won't.

Bring your sandwich, sounds like a plan. Cinema has all overpriced garbage for sale. Cheese and pickle sandwich, much healthier.

Stuff the grub, I always have a vino in the cinema

In Singapore you can press a button and a butler appears with a menu for during the movie

Local independent cinema? I don't have one. I did in the area I ,used to live in and there's no food ban there.

Quite disappointed by the joylessness of posters who are implying that eating at the cinema shows a lack of self-control rather than a simple desire to enjoy the occasion. It's like going to one of the seasonal outdoor ice rinks and having a hot chocolate or Glühwein afterwards...you don't need it and you know it's just marketing that makes it seem like "Part of the experience"...but it's nice and it's fun and it's once a year so actually going home to drink water, eat quinoa and go jogging can be put on hold for once.

I love the cinema if I can absorb myself in the film. The big screen, surround sound at a good volume and sharing the reaction to what's unfolding in front of us, be that surprise, laughter, shock, sadness or awe. I can't reproduce this at home.

Unfortunately I can't get absorbed if there's people crunching, squelching, squirching and slurping in my immediate vicinity. I would love to be able to blot it out, but I can't. According to some here I'm supposed to stay at home, because who would go to the cinema to watch a film?!

For my part I would willingly pay extra, maybe 50% more, to have a noisy-food free screening (drinks and ice cream still allowed). But that option doesn't exist, so is it too much to expect those around me to show some consideration?

We go to the cheap kids films on a weekend morning and I take bacon butties and a blanket!

That is really lovely . Lovely memories for your DCs.

Eeeeeowwwfftz

Do what i do
Go and see films a few weeks after release when the place will be empty.

'For my part I would willingly pay extra, maybe 50% more, to have a noisy-food free screening (drinks and ice cream still allowed). But that option doesn't exist, so is it too much to expect those around me to show some consideration?'

The cinema sells the food that so offends you. So yeah, if you have that much of an issue, it's your lookout. The cinema chains obviously don't find anything inconsiderate about eating in their theatres.

Oh OP , , YANBU . I also take food in to the cinema, not paying their prices as a film entry costs enough let alone their over priced popcorn and hot dogs etc

It's not always possible to eat before/ after due to the timings of films. For example - recently bf and I went to see a film on a midweek eve. The showtimes were 1830 and 2130. It was a slightly over 2hr long film - so we opted for the earliest showing as otherwise we would've got home too late.

Now as we both work ft, we couldn't get to the cinema before 1815. So no time to eat dinner beforehand. And we wouldn't have got out til nearly nine which is too late to eat - especially as bf had not eaten since11am and I'd not eaten since lunch at 1230. So we nipped into the local Tesco, bought a sandwich meal deal and took it in with us.

Unsurprisingly, loads of people in the cinema with us had done the same, or else paid 3x as much for the hotdogs and nachos they'd bought in the cinema.

In terms of time 'at' the cinema, it's oversimplistic to refer solely to the duration of the film itself. You have to travel there and back, which could be up to an hour each way depending on where you live/ if you go by car or public transport, and also the start time as I mentioned. It's quite easy to see how it can be impossible to eat before, and then too late to eat after, by time film has ended and you've got home.

If cinemas allow consumption of their own food - which they clearly do, indeed encourage (and not just cold food but hot food as well) then I don't see any reason for people to get all uppity about people bringing their own food in! I totally get why cinemas discourage this, because of the money they make on food they sell, but why is it such a big deal to people if someone is eating in the cinema or not?

Fwiw people have been rustling sweet papers in theatres for years - I sat behind a lady in the Barbican when I was at school (c 1988/89) who during a Shakespeare play noisily ate a quarter of mint humbugs - unwrapping and rustling each one. We also took our lunches to more than one theatre trip during A levels when our coach had been delayed en route and we'd not had chance to eat. No complaints were made, and no incidents ensued!

I always take my own food and water to the cinema. They overcharge for the crap they sell.

But that option doesn't exist, so is it too much to expect those around me to show some consideration?

LOL. Sorry guys, stop selling food, stop running your business the way you think it should be run - show some consideration, won't you?

Eeeeeeeowwfftz

The vast majority of people do keep rustling and crunching to a minimum. Some noise is just inevitable. People aren't doing it to wind you up. It's just that for MOST people, the noise isn't a huge issue, and the enjoyment of eating and drinking at the cinema outweighs the negative aspects.

Unfortunately for you, it doesn't. But how you deal with that (stay at home, go to the cinema and lump it, write to your cinema suggesting food-free showings at 50% extra cost, etc.) is really up to you.

Vue cinemas let you take your own food in, I've always taken our own, not paying the prices they charge for stuff I don't want to eat anyway.