Film

I’m writing this a couple of weeks in the past, the morning after watching Mickey 17 at the cinema (it’s a good film, you should watch it if you haven’t already). With us having lost a weekend to Sci-Fi Weekender, I wrote a whole batch of blog posts ahead of time, including this one.

I wouldn’t say that we’re regular cinema-goers – generally, we go to watch family films that are suitable for our nine-year-old. Mickey 17 is clearly not a kid-friendly film and deserves its 15 rating – we only managed to go because we were able to arrange childcare in the evening. Whilst Sowerby Bridge itself no longer has its own cinemas, there are a number of different cinemas within easy reach of home. This includes some independent cinemas – the Hebden Bridge Picture House, the Rex Cinema in Elland, and the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford. But they’re mostly single-screen cinemas with a limited number of films on offer.

So, generally, we go to one of the chains. We’ve been to most of the chain cinemas in recent years, so, this is my high subjective ranking of the different chains:

1. Everyman

Everyman cinemas are top-tier. Instead of individual seats, you get sofas, with cushions and plenty of legroom. Every cinema has a bar, serving cocktails as well as beer and wine, and the food menu goes well beyond the basics into burgers, pizzas and sharing plates.

If there was an Everyman closer to us, we would go there almost exclusively. Alas, the nearest is in Leeds city centre, at the top of the Trinity Leeds shopping centre, and so we’ve only been once in recent months.

2. The Light

Whilst not quite as upmarket as Everyman, The Light offers an above-average experience. You don’t get sofas in the screens, but you do get big, comfy seats that can recline as standard, and the legroom is generous. Similarly, the food menu isn’t as extensive as Everyman, but you can buy freshly made pizzas and alcoholic drinks to take in. The Light specialise in smaller screens, so it’s a more intimate experience than other cinemas – we went to the Bradford cinema where six screens are squeezed into a relatively small space.

The Light in Bradford was where we saw Mickey 17, and it’s worth noting that if you park next door in the Broadway shopping centre, you can get 5 hours free parking. Also local for us will be their new cinema opening later this year in Huddersfield town centre, which will also include a bowling alley and other entertainment besides showing films.

3. Showcase De Lux

Showcase is also one of the smaller cinema chains in the UK. In my experience, it’s the nicest of the large multiplex chains. Again, the seating is a step down from The Light and Everyman, but fine. The food is also standard for cinemas, with the usual popcorn, nachos and hotdogs. Our nearest is at Birstall on the edge of Leeds, where we can park for free and it’s just off the M62.

4. Vue

Our nearest multiplex is the Vue in Halifax. Of the three big chains, I tend to find Vue to be the best, but not by much. You can pay a little extra for premium seating, but otherwise it’s standard seats with standard legroom. Other things that I like about Vue are:

• they still have some cinemas in town centres, which was great before we could drive.
• some of their cinemas only charge £5 for any film, generally making them one of the cheapest cinemas

5. Odeon

I would broadly consider Odeon to be equivalent to Vue but ranked them lower as, during the late 1990s and early 2000s, they had a policy of moving their cinemas out of town centres. Our closest Odeon cinemas are on the outskirts of Huddersfield, and halfway between Leeds and Bradford. Their locations mean that they’re well away from a range places to eat, so it’s hard to have a meal and then a film. In Huddersfield, for example, there’s just a Pizza Hut and a pub nearby. We would have considered seeing Mickey 17 here as it was closer and showing at a similar time, but the lack of food options meant we chose The Light in Bradford instead.

The exception is the Odeon at the Trafford Centre, which we used to use because the Trafford Centre had a crèche (sadly closed during the pandemic and never re-opened), but it’s a bit far.

6. Cineworld

Finally, Cineworld. The company has been in a bit of pickle recently and it shows. Until The Light came along, Cineworld was the only multiplex in Bradford city centre, and so I used to go there quite a bit when I lived there. We recently went to Cineworld in Bradford again to see Wicked, and it’s clear that it needs some work doing on it. I’m not saying I would never go to Cineworld again, but unless it was the only cinema showing a film we wanted to watch at a reasonable time, I would give it a pass.

One last thing to mention: CinemaGuide is a useful site that lets you select your local cinemas (including all of the above chains and some independents) and then view a list of everything that’s on across all of them, sorted by film title. It’s handy when you want to see a particular film, and can travel to multiple different cinemas if needed.