My sister-in-law has one of the unlimited passes to Odeon, so she's been to this cinema a lot.
She told me this Odeon cinema was recently been redone, so while it didn't used to be busy, now it's quite a popular cinema! We experienced that when we went last week unfortunately.
The reason is it's so busy is because there's much less seating now, but that's because all the seats are big, comfy recliners! They are awesome! Each seat gets its own little snack table as well. The seats recline and pop up with a foot rest. They are very comfortable -- perhaps a little too comfortable.
I was still experiencing jet lag from our flight over, so I fell asleep several times during the film, but granted, the film didn't end until nearly midnight! It was so crowded that we had to wait an hour for the next available showing of the film we were trying to see. You can book your seats online though (we couldn't do that this time since my mother-in-law had a voucher she wanted to use, which coincedently, didn't even end up being valid since this was a luxe cinemas. doh!).
In the lobby, there's a waiting area and a Costa Coffee inside. There's plenty of parking too. If you need snacks, there's a Home Bargain in the same plaza. In addition to popcorn and candy, the cinema itself also does fries (and probably some other items; I didn't really look). The whole theater smelled of fries when we walked in though.
I wish the prices were a bit cheaper, but if you're a local, the unlimited monthly pass seems like a steal. It only costs a little more than the price of one movie to see unlimited films for the whole month. That's great!
I also wish there was somewhere for your coat and your purse. I ended up putting my coat on the short wall behind my seat which worked out fine. The theater's seats are tiered, so each row is slightly elevated from the previous row. Each row has a spacious aisle in front of it too, so there's no squeezing past to get to your seat. Plus you have an entire little wall behind your seat (or in front I suppose), to put your cost on. I think they could use a little hook though by your seat for your purse and that would really be perfect!
The only other downside is, there were a lot of ads! I don't mean trailers, I mean straight up ads. I thought the movie would start at 9 pm, but the ads started at 9, followed by the trailers, so the movie didn't start for ages which really sucked since I already was so exhausted.
Anyway, 4 stars because this is the most comfortable I've ever been at the movies before! Plus the staff were really nice, trying to get my MIL's voucher to work and then trying to work out the best option for tickets with her NHS discount and my grandma-in-law's senior rate. read more