I tried to see the lion King last night in screen 5 here and honestly, it was like I'd paid £24 for me and my partner to watch a pirated film, wonky, in mono, missing half audio. I am a sound engineer by trade so noticed this instantly, but a few others left too. The main L+R channels of the sound system were off. So only the centre and 2 pairs of surround channels worked. When watching a musical film where most of the content is in the front L+R pair, you literally miss all the music, and are listening to a mono centre focus channel with a bit of twinkly surround. Now, the cinema allowed me a refund, so that is OK, and the staff were lovely, so no problems there. However, one of them said they've been having problems with the audio in that screen since the latest blade runner... In 2017... This is wholly and absolutely unacceptable!!
Secondly - the projection itself was letterboxed and keystoned incorrectly, and corner corrected on the upper right side. Leaving a scewed wonky image. I've mentioned the above to some of my industry coworkers, and one of them even left a review from the same screen, in 2017, with the same visual issues! He's doesn't mention the audio on the review but he confirms it was the same issue with that too.
This is an issue of fair trade - if they're selling 4k cinema tickets at full whack, selling people the "big screen entertainment" story, they have to deliver. And all the above issues are down to bad calibration and poor technical maintainance. And if its truly been like this since 2017, tens of thousands of people have had to watch films to this low, theft-level standard, but probably just didn't even realise why they thought the film was bad etc. It's effectively stealing = 2 years x 5 screenings a day x 200+ patrons x at £12 a ticket, the the maths.
I will only be returning here to check if they have fixed these issues. If not, I'll continue to look to raise it further until it gets resolved - as it's just totally...
Read moreIf I could give 0 stars I would. Awful cinema. Firstly, we arrived and parked in a pay and display car park across the road as there is no cinema car park, so as well as the cost of cinema, you also have to pay to park. Then when we got into the actual cinema screen itself, it was a very small room in which they have attempted to cram as many seats as possible. Therefore, the height difference between the rows of seats above/below is insufficient; the head of the person in front of you goes about half way up the movie screen meaning you cannot see 1/4 of the tiny screen, and you can constantly see their head moving about, ruining the movie. The super sharp, glaring white lights along the ceiling stay on throughout the movie, apparently they are "emergency lights" which I have never seen in any cinema before. The screen itself was extremely small, and of poor quality. On top of that is so tightly packed that it feels as though you are sitting on a packed out single decker bus. No room in front to move your legs, your knees rest against the seat in front of you, no room to the sides of you as everyone is in such close proximity, you just have to stay put throughout the whole 2.5 hour movie with no space to breathe. To top it off, the people on the row behind will constantly be nudging your chair with their knees in the attempt to get comfortable. Will be avoiding...
Read moreVisited the cinema on 05/09/2023 and was in screen 2 to watch The Equaliser 3. The temperature outside the cinema was very warm and we arrived in summer clothing. Entering the screen we were blown back with the sub zero air conditioning and within a few minutes were shivering. My Wife went to the foyer to complain to be told that the climatic system was faulty and that just last week it was boiling hot! -She was then told that they would increase the temperature, in fact they were to lower the temperature! We sat for the entire film shivering and couldn't wait for it to finish. After the film I found a member of staff - in fact that same member of staff that my Wife had spoken to and I said that I wanted to speak to the Manager and make a complaint. He effectively laughed and acknowledged the issue and said what can I do? I asked for a refund and he told me to contact customer services which I did this morning to be told that they would not refund as this is a venue issue that needs to be dealt with by the venue!!! What a joke. I will be revisiting for a refund! I would also say the non premium seats have no leg room at all, I'm 6ft 3 and I was cramped, these should not be offered. In screen 2 I could also hear the sound from the other screens so quite off putting. I would certainly think twice about...
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