UKC

Took my grandson to the showcase cinema tonight to see ready player one, (excellent film by the way). while im used to the inflated prices with anything cinema related tonight I felt particularly ripped off.  for an ice blast drink a plate of Dorito style Crips with no sauces and a tub of ice cream it was over £15. I reckon its about  3 time the price I could buy it in a normal shop. Must be hugely expensive for a family of 4 taking the kids there.

So at the risk of sounding like a moaning old fart im not having it anymore. does anyone sneak food into the cinema or do you even have to. what's your chosen method, do you wear one of those big shoplifter jackets or just brass it out with the staff .

I never see anyone openly carrying sweets of drinks in to my local ones.

I don't think I ever had my bag checked. Though I never felt like I need to bring something - usually go for a meal prior or after. 

I sat next to a guy who brought a bag of Skittles and shared with his mate... during the classical music concert. It wasn't festival or free - just a standard one from one of my most favourite composers who have not been to Glasgow for last half decade or more. The smell and sound were just so distracting. It still boggles my mind someone actually did it. At least he could have shared some! 

Cineworld and a number of others say you can take your own (cold and non alcoholic) snacks into the cinema without sneaking

http://metro.co.uk/2017/11/22/youre-allowed-to-take-most-food-and-drinks-in...

Edit: Showcase and Vue also

I have often wondered if the cinema would make more money if it didn't have such exorbitant price's. 

Sneak food and drinks in for kids every time in a bag. I refuse to pay their ridiculous prices

Not just cinemas   

Bank holiday Monday I took my niece and nephew to a nature reserve...£36 for 2 adults and 2 children to see some ducks.  Throw in 2 buckets of bird seed and 2 cups of tea, 2 milk drinks, a scone and 3 muffins in the cafe it was £60 for a walk around a lake and a few ponds!! 

checked the showcase website and its pretty well hidden but there is a statement saying you cant bring hot food ,alcoholic drinks or drinks in glass containers so its kind of reluctantly says you can bring your own food although not in so many words.

visit to the shops before my next visit.

the Odeon however has 13 separate frequently asked questions about food and drink but not one relates to food purchased outside the cinema.

I read somewhere that weight for weight cinema popcorn is more expensive than gold. After one trip to the flicks a couple of years ago cost our family of four the best part of £70, we've always taken our own stuff. Never been checked.

My wife and I often take our own sandwiches etc. We also sometimes have a flask of coffee or plastic bottle of water. I was aware they obviously want one to pay over half as much again compared to entry ticket but hadn't asked if anything was actually prohibited. It must be hard to check in the dark and I doubt staff would want to make a scene or get bad publicity so long as one was discreet.

Why on earth does anyone need to eat at the cinema anyway? Is sitting on your backside for two hours really so exhausting that you need to top up your sugar levels? One of the biggest aggravations about going to the flicks (after prats chattering on mobile phones or the flickering light as they check their oh-so-urgent and important texts) is people rustling sweet packets and chomping popcorn.

Cineworld allow you to take your own drinks and cold food in.

Took our own bottle of water and a tupperware of sweets in.  Didn't improve the film I'm afraid : (

Along with their post-mix fizzy pop it's a contender for the biggest mark-up on any product you can (legally) buy.  But no, not by a long chalk.

Professor Google (actually Dr Duckduckgo) tells me that gold is currently about £30 per gram and a medium sized portion of sweet popcorn at the Odeon is 128g which wouldn't give you much change out of four grand.

Fair cop, but after the eye watering £70 cinema bill, the popcorn Vs gold claim did seem feasible.

Our local independent cinema has teas and coffee, wine, beers and reasonably priced sweets. I find it hard to stomach anywhere else now but you might have to wait a bit for the film you want to see. 

My chosen method is to walk in carrying it. The T&Cs for a lot of cinemas say you can take cold food and non alcoholic drinks in.

Hebden Bridge 

We often go to matinees and take our own lunch. Yes, it could be aggravating to others but  we are discreet and quiet, sit in the back row and confine our nourishment to the adverts at the start. 

Obviously one of the reasons people eat during the film is because they are encouraged to buy in house by the management to increase takings (what this thread is all about). Very arguably having food may keep some kids quieter.

Yup!

Oh come on.  A bucket of popcorn (salted) is just an essential part of the cinema experience, as is a tub of icecream at any interval.  Its just part of what going to the cinema is.

And another thing .... with the cost of UK cinema tickets climbing ever higher, it is increasingly difficult to justify paying out for an experience which almost invariably includes the delights of people rustling / munching / slurping incessantly, whilst checking their mobile phones or just plain talking through the movie. 

When the cost of a single cinema ticket is approximately the same as the DVD or even BlueRay then it is hard to justify the expense (I know the experience is not the same) let alone for a family of four or more! 

Bah humbug, ( I cant help it, I'm a Scotsman living in Yorkshire, what chance does that give me!  )

Absolutely right. Some films (Lord of the Rings etc) are best seen on a big screern. Otherwise I wait for the dvd. As you say, the experience is not the same - watching at home is infinitely more pleasurable.

A Yorkshireman living in Yorkshire

There is a Tescos by local cinema that charges £1 for a large bag of salted popcorn. Throw in 3 cans of gin and tonic for a fiver it seems like a no brainer to me. I used to hide my stash inside my coat or Mrs Cú Chullain's handbag but we just don't bother now as the Odeon cinema staff simply don't give a shite.

Most of the chains seem to have unlimited passes between £12 and £18 a month. If film is your thing and go a could of times a week, not buying drinks and snacks at the cinema it seems like spectacularly good value.

Agree completely, Wiley.

Dave

Habit and reminiscence... its just what we always did on the rare visits to the cinemas as a kid. Sweets bought from corner shop and pop sneaked through in my mums handbag.

Our favourite local cinema sells you pints of Salopian Oracle, and home made cake and is the upstairs of a medieval guildhall. All at sensible prices. 

With a trip to Waitrose for sweets before hand we  reach peak middle class within 20 minutes. 

Does anyone actually pay full price for their tickets any more? Apart from the "free" ones Mrs W gets through her bank account as some sort of perk I can get them heavily discounted through works staff offers website.

I have found that the best time to watch a film is a late night Sunday showing in the last couple of weeks before they pull the plug on screening it. I got to see "Star Wars - The Force Awakens" with absolutely nobody else in the auditorium and only about 4 other people for "The Last Jedi".

As far as refreshments go, I take a small bottle of something to drink, as can get quite a dry mouth in the air conditioning, and maybe a cereal bar, or similar, to nibble.

This - I'm annoyed I didn't get my arse in gear to see the Blade Runner remake on big screen.

Probably the same people who can't walk across a town centre without the aid of a Starbucks.

This is where the Cineworld Unlimited Card comes in.  If you go twice a month, it's cheaper than paying separately.  If you go once a week, it's heading towards "dirt cheap" per showing.

I think Odeon have started offering the same thing, possibly prompted by the fact that they were making little inroad into the business in Milton Keynes because near enough anyone who goes to the cinema frequently there has a Cineworld card.  I don't know if it's a national scheme or not for them though.  Vue don't offer it, don't know about Showcase.

It was a sequel, not a remake . Or are you being funny-clever-sarcastic?

I think Odeon were doing it before Cineworld

i have a Cineworld unlimited card and an 8 screen Cineworld an 8 minute slow walk from my front door. Via a corporate work discount, I am paying £2.76 a week for this

And in a classic “First World Woes” way, I now complain that it has resulted in my watching all sorts of rubbish that no sane person would pay for, and has made me eschew proper good art House fare in favour of saving about £20 and watching bloody Tomb Raider

PS obviously I always take about 5 beers in and have a little alcohol picnic 

It was great on the big screen

The MK one certainly wasn't.  Perhaps it's a more local arrangement.

If it's that near your house why watch the telly?

I don't quite understand why a shit load of sugary food is required.

Try going without 1,000 calories of sugar (that has been prefondled by a spotty teenager with dubious personal hygiene) for 90 minutes while you watch the film. 

Think of the upsides:

-> you don't get fat

-> you don't get sticky

-> you don't pay £15 for SFA

-> you don't piss off those around you with your incessant rustling and chewing

It's not like you're going to starve to death and it isn't like you need the calories, this is sitting on your arse not Scottish winter climbing!

It’s so near my house that I don’t bother cleaning the lounge

If you want to smuggle chocolate into the cinema do what they do in the USA.

https://www.thepoke.co.uk/2015/01/21/sneak-chocolate-american-cinema/

W

I don't always take in junk food, but I do like a tea/coffee (I'm weird, I drink both rather than having an unbreakable allegiance to one of them like most people do) or a soft drink, like I would if I sat down to watch the telly at home.