Cinemas & movie theaters – All our local tips

You’re either one of those people who, A: gets to a movie early to catch the trailers (hardy of buttock), or B: gets there later so that you miss the advertising (soft of buttock), get straight to the movie, but only find seats at the front and sit with your neck at an angle that only plastic surgeons are familiar with.

Now, I want you to do this.  Go to the Empire Leicester Square, book to see the movie showing in Screen 1, and go early before the ads start and the lights go down.

Find your seats, NOW sit with your neck in the position that only plastic surgeons are familiar with. Ahhhhhhhhhh, now you see!!

Alternating coloured light slowly washes in waves from inside the armadillo-like sections of the roof and walls, beaming down to the front of the auditorium where it ends in a sparkling colour starfield in a sky of LED genius. Groovy baby. For a real trip check out the 360 panoramic photo on the website.

Stay for the movie? As film-critic Barry Norman used to say, “and why not?”

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Empire Cinema | Cinemas | Stalls – Adult ticket £ 9.95
5-6 Leicester Square | Central | +448714714714
See website for showing times

If your stay in London co-insides with any movie premieres, be sure to head down to the West End’s Leicester Square for some celebrity spotting.

I was in Leicester Square for the Sex and the City Premiere and witnessed a variety of celebrities, from the famous to the not so famous, strut down the red carpet, producing a sea of coloured dresses, fashion mishaps and fake tans!

After a few hours of being amongst celebrities and the flashing lights of the paparazzi I left the square clearly on a high and took the underground home, where the hot overcrowded train soon brought me back to reality!

However, if you would like to have your brush with fame at the next world premiere, here are some tips;
* For the big name premieres, try and get down to Leicester Square by lunch time to get a good position. Whilst the stars don’t walk down the carpet generally until 18:00 – 19:30, the square fills up quickly and the area gets sectioned off once full.
* Bring a water proof poncho or raincoat as there is no uncover area.
* Don’t forget your camera and a pen and paper to get some autographs!

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London film premieres | Art & culture, Cinemas | Free
24-26 Leicester Square | Central
See website for the next premieres

My fellow spotter Deanna has already mentioned the benefits of the Square for movie premieres, but I had to draw your attention to the beautiful facade of this, one of my favourite cinemas for an ‘event’ movie.

The Odeon Leicester Square has a singular beauty in it’s dark, black, monolithic design, towering 120 feet above you.  A recent refit in 1998 modernised the interior, with a cool and elegant front-of-house, and a glass balcony from the first floor circle bar overlooks the Square gardens.

In the main auditorium, a Grecian-style frieze of four near-naked women (the renowned ‘flying ladies’), stride along the walls toward the screen as one might rush to one’s seat before the film begins, just with more clothes on.  The modern seating is cheekily upholstered in faux leopard-skin, which is an original touch.  If you fancy the cheap seats but a great view, take to the stalls.  Alternatively, if one has come from one’s palace, then one simply must take the royal circle.

If you want to see the main auditorium, make sure that you buy tickets to Screen One.  The cinema also shows other movies in smaller, more regular screens.

This is Odeon’s flagship screen, so set-sail with the latest in sound and visual technology. A digital projector sits side-by-side with the more traditional film projector, but you can expect some of the best in West-End presentation when the lights go down.

Image © Odeon Cinemas Ltd

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Odeon Leicester Square | Art & culture, Cinemas | Royal Circle from £ 13.20
Leicester Square | Central | +448712244007
See website for film times

At the top of China Town is London’s best cinema. The prices are less than the outrageously priced Hollywood junk shown in Leicester square and the venue is so welcoming people hang out here without even watching a film. The Soho Curzon is part of a chain of five similar cinemas, though my personal favourite is the Soho edition as it’s the most central and the layout is most inviting.

At street level a retro-styled café has over 20 different pastries and cakes and serves hot soup, coffees and organic wines. Downstairs a spacious bar is adorned with brown leather sofas you sink down into and tables where you can find people having pre-movie drinks, post-movie chats or just enjoying the artsy atmosphere.

The three cinemas in the basement show a selection of art house independent and less commercial titles. The Soho Curzon regularly hosts Q&A sessions with film directors and script writers along with special previews. Film festivals and a monthly quiz are also on the agenda.

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Soho Curzon | Art & culture, Bars, Cinemas, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Ticket £ 12.00
99 Shaftesbury Avenue | Central | +448717033988
Box office 11:00 – 21:00 daily | Bar 11:00 – 23:00 daily

Unless you stumble upon this by accident it’s easy to miss the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), accessed by a simple doorway on The Mall amongst the rows and rows of white columns.  Established in 1947 by a collective of artists, poets and writers, it aims to further contemporary culture through a variety of artforms.  A special ‘ICA at 60′ season is celebrating their, not surprisingly, 60th year.

On a mission to break down the boundaries between artists and the public, the ICA offers endless art exhibitions of great creativity and fun; two small cinema screens that regularly show great documentaries and world cinema; talks and events on multitude of cultural and artistic subjects; DJs and live performance in the ICA Bar, which also serves some tasty snack food.

The ICA shop has a cool selection of irregular and kooky magazines, books, DVDs and those really nice Moleskin notebook things.

On a charge of extreme laziness I want to leave it to you to browse the website here, to really get a vision for what the ICA offers, I’ll let your taste will guide you; a mind-boggling amount of entertainment awaits, look at all the links to the website I’ve managed to dig up already! Check times for individual events, exhibitions and movies.

It’s so easy just to drop in on a weekend, without it feeling like an ordeal of endurance that visits to some of the larger museums can be sometimes.  If you live in London permanently, why not become a member, at £35 a year it’s reduces the ticket prices to some seriously low prices

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The ICA | Art & culture, Bars, Cinemas, Coffee & tea, Music, Snacks
12 Carlton House Terrace | Central | +442079303647
Mon – Wed 12:00 – 23:00, Thu – Sat 12:00 – 01:00, Sun 12:00 – 21:00

No building in history may have had as bad press as the Millennium Dome – sorry – the O2. But look at it without reeling at all those taxpayers’ pennies and you’ve got to admit – it’s a hell of a sight. London’s most maligned tourist site may be a white elephant, but it’s no lame duck nowadays thanks to the revamp O2 and pals have given it in the last few years.

Name a gastro-pub or popular restaurant chain and it’s here. Name a generic public entertainment facility and it’s here. What’s not to like? Well, everything I suppose – but there are some huge draws to the dome.

Firstly, at night it’s a great fit-inducing menagerie of LEDS, neon and modernism in extremis which at the very least is worth a short ‘ooh’ or ‘ahh’ to the beholder. Secondly, once inside the cavernous dutch cap (and trust me it is HUGE), you can spend a veritably wholesome evening at comparably little expensive when you look at central London’s myriad overpriced, underachieving tourist traps.

Thirdly and waywardly most importantly is its new-found status as London’s premier uber-gig venue. I recently went on a whim, without ticket to see Tennessee’s tremendous Kings of Leon. No chance? No way. £25 on the door – which, as any big gig lover will tell you – is a fair bit under the asking price. And oddly, for a place as big as this, the atmosphere was every bit as tremendous.

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The O2 | Bars, Cinemas, Coffee & tea, Music, Restaurants | Free
Peninsula Square | South-East
Mon – Sat till 23:00, Sun til 22:00

If I told you I knew of a cinema in Leicester Square, where you could see a film for as little as £4 you’d probably assume I was getting a little too friendly with one of the projectionists. Well you’d be wrong! This wondrous place, of which I speak, is in fact The Prince Charles Cinema.

The cinema consists of two screens, one downstairs and one upstairs which has been more recently refurbished and costs a little more. Films shown here have generally been on release for a couple of months which is how the cinema is able to offer such amazing ticket prices. I particularly enjoy this as I for one seem to have a distinct inability to get round to seeing films when they come out initially.

The perfect antidote to soulless big screen multiplexes, it shows a mixture of new releases, indie and foreign films as well as classics. There’s also the much-loved ’sing-a-long-a’ showings. Sing-a-long-a Sound of Music anyone?

As well as the amazing prices, what I love is the old-school cinema experience here. Squishy red seats, are tilted back in certain rows by the dipped floor and a red curtain draws back to reveal the screen. There are also comfy double seats available for snuggling up.

Go and find this brilliant little place and feel smug, as those in the dark fork out three times the price of your film just round the corner.

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The Prince Charles Cinema | Cinemas | Showings from £ 4.00
7 Leicester Place | Central | +442074943654
See website or call box office for showing times

The Tricycle has been running since 1980 and despite being in the northwest, far from the glamorous West End theatre hub, it has become one of London’s most adored and respected theatres. Ten years ago a one-screen cinema was added on and in 2001 the Creative Space was built for educational workshops.

The theatre’s directors try to present work which reflects the cultural diversity of its neighborhood Kilburn, a heavily immigrant area and has put on plays by Irish, African-Caribbean and Asian writers.

The venue also puts on events such as the Obama Inauguration Party, where they will screen the ceremony live in the cinema with American beer, pretzels and cheerleaders.

The cinema kiosk serves ice cream and candy and it has a bar/café which has a simple menu of pasta, sandwiches and jacket potatoes. There is a separate eating area which doubles as an exhibition space. On Mondays cinema tickets are only £5.

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The Tricycle | Art & culture, Bars, Cinemas, Coffee & tea, Snacks, Theaters
269 Kilburn High Road | North-West | +442073281000
Box office Mon – Sat 10:00 – 21:00, Sun 14:00 – 21:00
Café & bar Mon – Sun 12:00 – 23:00 (12:00 – 20:00 for food)