Best-value London cinemas: let's pool our knowledge

Bargain_Rzl

Just wondering if anybody has any good tips for the most inexpensive way to go to the cinema in London.

I know about the UGC season ticket deal (£12.99 a month unlimited films, or £9.99 if you exclude Central London) but to be honest, until recently I've always been more of an occasional cinemagoer and can generally find tickets for up to two films a month for less than this, though I am now starting to reconsider as my local cinema (being Cineworld, the new parent company of UGC) now falls into this deal.

Generally speaking, when there's a new film out that I want to see, there are three places I try first:

1) my local in zone 5, which is £3.80 on Tuesdays, and shows about 80% of the new films I want to see
2) Barbican Screen, which is £5 on Mondays and has the added advantage of not selling drinks and popcorn (further moneysaving) and not usually being full of kids - good mix of blockbusters and art house
3) the Odeon, Wardour Street (in the Swiss building off Leicester Square) which is £5 all the time, though they do mainly show art house/foreign films - I've seen one or two major new releases there though and I note that this week they're showing Howl's Moving Castle.

OH has an Orange phone but isn't often available on Wednesdays!

For repertory films I keep an eye on the listings at the Prince Charles, where tickets are between £1.50 and £4 depending on when you go, but they don't show new releases.

Anybody else got any top tips for places in Central (ish) London where films are really good value for money?

Cheers
Rzl

Karnam

the Prince Charles theatre off leiciester square do £1 fridays where EVERYTHING is £1. the normally show films about a month after they've come off the screens elsewhere.

Covent garden odeon was only 3-4pounds during the day last year.

Bargain_Rzl

Karnam, you'll see that I mentioned the Prince Charles in my opening post. I wasn't aware that there was a pattern to them showing "nearly new" releases though, thanks for that.

The fact that the maximum they EVER charge (except for singalonga shows) is £4 is good enough for me! I caught a Saturday afternoon showing of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind a couple of weeks ago - I'd wanted to see it since it was on general release but had not got around to it - and paid £4 for that. Quite often you have no choice in how much you pay because a lot of the films are only on for one showing. So if that one day happens to be a Monday or Friday, it's "very very very" cheap, if it's a weekday matinee it's "very very" cheap, and if it's a Saturday it's simply "very" cheap

I fancy seeing Corpse Bride tonight but as it's Tuesday I'll go to my local (Bexleyheath) for £3.80 :money:

Karnam

I go local since I no longer live in Central central London... the travelcard doesn't warrant the cheaper costs normally. plus local cinemas are willing to take my Orange241 with the student discount

signed up to the PCC email, they send out the £1 friday details from there. Also Whiteley's Multi Corp cinema (i forget which one it is) is quite cheap... but I forget how much!

Moomin

My local is the Genesis Cinema Mile End (although nearer to Whitechapel/Stepney) - Zone 2. Has 5 screens and shows current popular films, as well as participating in various film festivals.
Every Wednesday, all seats for all performances are £3.80 (they have been doing this since they opened a few years ago) Very good value. Altho' if there is a very 'big' film and it is still term time, you should try and get there early, as there will also be loads of local uni students queuing for bargain tickets. This was the case a few years back with Lord of the Rings and other v.popular blockbusters.

Pensioner tickets are £2.00 for any show

http://www.genesis-cinema.co.uk/

Karnam

Quickie note for Univeristy of London student, the ULU normally shows a free film each week. I'm not sure what the details are for this year but there are normally posters around the ULU advertising it.

UltraCheap_2

Do you have to be a ULU student?

HeMan_3

Orange Wednesday Poissbily?

Karnam

UltraCheap wrote:

Do you have to be a ULU student?

nope its a walk in affair. you might need to show a student card (any one will do) if its after 6pm to get into the ULU but otherwise its a sit down and shut up affair.

starlite_2

the picturehouse chain have a £5 night on mondays...
they are very comfy cinemas too and usually show more interesting things alongside the blockbusters.

Bargain_Rzl

starlite wrote:

the picturehouse chain have a £5 night on mondays...
they are very comfy cinemas too and usually show more interesting things alongside the blockbusters.

That's useful - used to go to York city screen and, more recently, Greenwich (when it was plain old Greenwich Cinema).

Looked on the website for Greenwich and it looks like the £5 Monday deal may only apply to daytime showings. Anybody know if this is right?

Also, does anybody know if there are ANY reasonably priced London cinemas which have special "adult" showings of family films? When I went to see Corpse Bride last week the audience behaved worse than I've ever seen before in a cinema. It was bargain day AND half term AND for some reason the usual animated film about how to behave in the cinema wasn't shown. The younger kids ran up and down the aisles, and the teens chatted and texted with brightly lit mobile phones (I DON'T CARE IF IT'S ON SILENT. YOU'RE IN A DARKENED ROOM FOR A REASON, SO SWITCH IT OFF.)

A lot of kids' films that are coming out at the moment appeal to me, and I'd like a better environment to see them in...

If there's no such thing as an "adults only" screening, can anybody recommend the best time to go to the cinema to avoid badly behaved audiences. I'm guessing - am I wrong? - that very late-night Friday and Saturday screenings are probably full of, err, well-lubricated people who might be quite noisy too? Also, I'm a bit wary of very late screenings from the point of view of getting home afterwards. I work Monday-Friday until 6 or 7pm, so can't get in before the schools let out...