To think the cinema is a day to day event

[Soboystake]

Not an experience or day out

My local Vue is in Bromley, so outer London. Parking isn't cheap either.

Definitely a treat/day out, it costs a fortune with the snacks now.

YOUR life does equal everyone else's experience though. Cost completely depends on where you live - there are several different cinemas in my city where tickets are £5 for an adult and you can also use the meerkat discount or whatever it is now on those days.

£2.50 is incredibly cheap, not expensive, and food is entirely optional. Unless you have severe diabetes or something that vast majority of people don't NEED to eat every 2 hours.

don’t leave us hanging @CoffeeCantata !!

Oh look thread police turned up

Event for us- 4 kids, 2 adults, with sweets and or popcorn it’s over fifty quid!!!

edited to add cinema ticket is 9.50 euro each

When I was in my 20's and childfree I had a membership and would go a couple of times a week. Now with children we go very rarely and it's an occasion because it costs so much.

Most tickets at the weekend at our local Odeon are about £19.
Possibly £12 for a child, so for a family of 4 to go to the cinema is a ridiculous cost!

And that's without a little popcorn and drink treat thrown in.

It's such a shame, my parents used to take me and my brother quite regularly when we were young in the 80s and early 90s.

I suppose most families just stay in and watch Netflix now....?

Yes, and I'm stating my experience. Where I live, tickets for the 5 of us cost about £60. For something that lasts just around 2 hours, without food, that's a lot. So for us it is not an everyday activity.

Most of the films these days aren't worth splashing out on. Pointless sequels, remakes - which 99% are worse than the original, spin offs

It's a big treat.

Why don't people take their own snacks in? I never understood this. The cinemas don't even mind people doing ut. As others have said, the vie near me is about £6 so it's only expensive if you make it expensive.

Six quid 😭
I wish. It's £12 here.
If you're going as a family that soon becomes out of reach for a lot of people.
As for snacks, sometimes it's fine taking a bottle of water and a bag of Haribo in your handbag.
Sometimes you want the crappy overpriced popcorn and big Coke though, you know cos of the experience.

Haha. I've got no shame. I'll smuggle in a huge bag of popcorn from the supermarket (salted of course).

Six quid
I wish. It's £12 here

It’s £15 where I live plus 75p booking fee or just over £20 for Imax.

I have an Unlimited card so it works out a cheap night out for me, my friend, adult DC and DH have one too so I go with them and I also love to go to the cinema on my own.

When I go with my friend we meet an hour before for a catch up and then watch a film. If we meet for a meal instead it’s always around £30 each.

Same - or 2 for 1 mid-week. I can park for free too, and go after my dinner, it doesn't require me to eat. I'm an older single person though. Where my daughter lives, it's much more expensive. It would also eat into the budget if a family of four were going.

It's a day out for us or special occasions as so expensive for a family.

@Jc2001 I do that when I go myself but with kids they like to have all the cinema stuff as part of the experience. They're only young though so never many films they can see anyway so it's not often. As they get older and they want to go more I'll encourage sneaky food.

Since Covid my local cinema allows food not purchased at the cinema to be brought in.

I've never got it either. You don't need to smuggle it in. Just carry it. The rules at my local ones have always been no alcohol and no hot food. You've always been able to take your own snacks in.

I'll often treat myself to a Tango Ice Blast but always take my own Maltesers. Why would I pay extra to buy them at the cinema when the cinema themselves aren't bothered?

Not the cost it is, no

There is NO need to sneak in food to the cinema

Odeon’s policy for example

Can I take my own snacks and drinks into the cinema?

We have a fantastic range of cinema classics like popcorn, hot dogs and our famous nachos available to buy in cinema, but we do allow guests to bring in their own snacks and drinks.
We do not allow the following to be brought in from outside the cinema:

- Heated food
- Pungent food
- Alcoholic drinks

It literally says heated food? So if you want hot food you have to sneak it.
I go to vue mostly and they won't let you take it in. Even been told I can't take a drink in.

Wot? Still no OP?

What is 'a day-to-day' event? Do you mean an 'everyday' event?

Such a weird, inconsequential question...I'm intrigued to know what OP means.

But I'm not holding my breath!

Nothing worse that someone munching on a stinking hotdog while you're trying to watch a film . If it was up to me there would be no hot foods in cinemas at all. Just get some to eat before or after. It's really unpleasant for other people.