What makes a great cinema?
It’s not always black and white.
But it usually helps if – instead of flip-down seats, people slurping Pepsi in your ear and a carpet covered in crunched-up nachos – it has spacious, velvet seating; stylish screening rooms; and an expansive menu of food and drink, which you can choose to have delivered right to your seat.
Somewhere like The Chiswick Cinema.
© Blake Ezra Photography Ltd.
Taking over the old Rambert dance studios on the High Road, it’s the first cinema from a group who run theatres across the country, including the Trafalgar Theatre right by Nelson’s Column. So there’s something suitably dramatic about an evening here, starting in the smartly refurbed lobby bar, and continuing into one of their five plushly-appointed screening rooms (with the smallest, seating just 16, available for private hire).
The programme is a mixed bill of brand new releases, cult classics, anniversary screenings and also not-films – including NT Live recordings of sold-out plays and streams from the Royal Ballet & Opera. And with exemplary pizza from Napoli On The Road, a hand-picked bottle of wine at Vinoteca and nightcaps at The Hound all within strolling distance, The Chiswick Cinema is a bona fide date night classic.
Local film buffs might want to consider membership, which – depending on the tier – offer everything from discounted popcorn to unlimited free tickets, as well as access to the balcony terrace and a separate bar (which looks a bit like a MADE showroom, but is still a relaxing spot where you’re equally welcome to come and get a bit of work done).
It’s the kind of place that’d make you say ‘they don’t make them like this anymore’…
…except clearly, they do.
NOTE: You can see what’s showing, and book tickets, on The Chiswick Cinema website.
The Chiswick Cinema | 94 – 96 Chiswick High Road, W4 1SH
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