Unlimited films. (Cineworld Cinemas)

Member Name: FairyG

Product:	Cineworld Cinemas
Date:	20/10/08 (117 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A modern cinema with tiered seating and twenty screens.

Disadvantages: Overpriced refreshments and long queues at busy times.

Cineworld in Sheffield is a modern building which only opened ten years ago. It is the best cinema I've ever been to, and I've heard it's also the busiest cinema in England, so it seems a lot of other people think so too!

It's got twenty screens and two of them are premier class, so they are huge. The biggest one has seating for 691. All screens have tiered seating so wherever you sit you have a clear view of the screen. There is good legroom, and even more where some of the side seats are angled towards the screen. There is good disabled access, and a lift to higher floors.

The bigger screens are on the ground floor, along with refreshment counters and ticket desks. On the first floor there is a stylish bar with comfortable seating, great for meeting friends for drinks or coffee. On the second floor are the smaller screens and also a party room for children's cinema parties.

Ticket prices are as follows:
Adults £6.70
Children £5.20
Family £20.00
Early bird (before 1pm) £4.70

It's expensive, so for regulars like me, it's well worth getting an Unlimited Card. This is £11.99 for a month, and I can go as often as I want. It's fantastic value as I only need to go twice in a month to cover my costs, and very often I go twice in a week, so I'm really getting my money's worth. Another advantage is they have a special queue for cardholders at busy times, which is much quicker than the normal queue. I can buy tickets for one film after another for the whole day if I want, but the one disadvantage is I can't buy advance tickets for the next day. Also if I want to pick up tickets for myself and my husband, we have to both be present at the ticket desk, as this is a photocard.
Sometimes we have been invited to special showings with our Unlimited card, where we get to rate a film. Cineworld also emails me the latest film times every week.

Parking is plentiful and it's free, although it can get very busy at around 7-8pm at weekends, so it's worth allowing a few minutes extra. Alternatively the Sheffield tram stops right outside the cinema.

The one big complaint I have about Cineworld is the price of the refreshments. They're all way too overpriced as in all cinemas. I really only buy cappuccino anyway, but at £2 for a small takeaway cup, and £2.50 for a large one, it's more expensive than Marks and Spencers cafe, which is crazy.

Every month, Cineworld releases a film magazine with all the up and coming films, and also a Bollywood magazine (they show one or two Bollywood films every week). All the latest releases are shown and the most popular will be on in the biggest screen.

Finally, there's a great range of restaurants around the cinema, as well as bowling, so you can really make an evening of it if you want to.

I've given this four stars, because of the extortionate price of refreshments, otherwise it would have been a five.

This review is also on Bview

Summary: A great cinema with good parking, a pleasant bar and a good choice of films.