British cinemas

This should really have gone in my previous post about "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" but somehow it just didn't feel appropriate.  

One of the things I've always wanted to do in the UK is go to the cinema.  I know it sounds stupid, but it's an experience that's distinctly British (or, at the very least, un-North American)!  I've been to three different cinemas so far - the Vue Fulham Broadway, the Apollo on Regent Street, and the Empire Leicester Square.  Actually, I think the Empire is one of the cinemas that is always hosting opening nights.  You know the ones; where the stars come out and walk the red carpet, and you always see pictures in magazines of them at the London premiere.  Then again, maybe I'm wrong - there are a few cinemas clustered around Leicester Square.  Anyway, I digress!

One of the reasons I've always wanted to go to the cinema in London is because I'd heard that they assign you a seat.  Apparently, this isn't always true - my first trip to the cinema to see "The Dark Knight" proved that by being a distinctly North American experience.  My 2nd and 3rd trips, however, didn't disappoint :D.  

You may wonder why being assigned a seat is such a novel idea to me.  Well, quite simply, because it's not done in Canada!  And it seems so odd!  The idea that people who arrive late and are assigned seats in the middle of the theatre have to climb over the people on the outskirts to get to their seats...and, as Bill Bryson says in his novel about travelling in Britain, that it's entirely possible for the theatre to be nearly empty except for a clump of people sitting closely packed together right in the centre.  In any case, it's a charming thought simply because it's a new experience! :)  

Okay, so let's get down to how the British cinema experience is different from the Canadian one.  Well, let's start with the Apollo, where I went to see "Mamma Mia!".  First of all, this cinema is gorgeous.  It's just plush, and you feel like you're in an expensive private club rather than a cinema.  When you buy your tickets, there's a touch screen facing you where a seating plan of the theatre pops up.  When the ticket seller prompts you, you select your own seats :D.  Then you walk down this lighted staircase towards the theatres but, before you actually get to the screens, there's a separate level with a bar.  Yes, that's right, a BAR.  A proper bar, with a bartender in a crisp white shirt, black waistcoat, and black bowtie.  And they serve alcoholic drinks.  Which you can take into the theatre with you.  Not only that, the bar looks like a proper/real lounge.  Chic little tables with plush chairs arranged around them, and dim lighting.  The place looks like a hotel bar!

Then there're the washrooms.  I've never seen such nice bathrooms in a cinema - again, they're gorgeous, and clean, and there are little bottles of expensive moisturizer next to the soap so you can avoid having dry hands.  

The theatre seats themselves are HUGE.  It's like someone lined a room with plush armchairs that you can actually lean back in.  And I don't mean that they're fixed in a position that's conducive to leaning - the backs of the chairs actually move back, like airplane seats.  Plus, you've got a headrest!  All of the seats are actually tall enough that your entire back and head is cradled :D.  AND, you know how in a Canadian theatre, no matter how new and nice it is you can sort of smell that sticky feeling and it doesn't feel quite clean?  Not in Britain!  The entire place is spotless and, more importantly, lacking in smell.

So, of course I thought the Apollo was an anomaly.  Surely not every British theatre could be this nice, right?  After all, the Vue Fulham Broadway had been a pretty typical theatre of the sort I'm used to from Canada.  The cinemas in Leicester Square, at the very least, had to be grotty and falling apart, right?  Wrong!

The Empire isn't quite as nice as the Apollo but it only falls short by a millimetre!  Same ability to choose your own seats, same clean and classy washrooms (though not quite as upscale looking), same proper bar, same cushy armchairs with leaning capabilities.  The difference with the Empire was that there was a member of staff waiting for us at the entrance to our theatre.  He checked our tickets carefully, then escorted us inside and seated us.  O_O.  In fact, he seated every single person who walked through the door.  

I could get used to this :D.  I LOVE British cinemas!