 The outside of the cinema 
It's Electric!
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Recommendation added: 31/01/2007 21:29
By: dewberry (YSUK rating +1061)dewberry has been thanked 7 times for this contribution
"In Birmingham City Centre there is no less than three (maybe more!) huge great multi screen cinemas, boasting the best of surround sound and such massive high quality images that you're practically experiencing the movie of your choice in 3D. A lovely range of food and snacks is available, usually along with a gift store selling such overpriced items as Mickey Mouse socks or a poster of Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible.
So when I won a family ticket to see a kids film preview at a cinema I'd never heard of, located in one of town's shabbiest streets, I was not impressed. However, while looking for directions to the wretched place I discovered that although it's not a flash cinema it's actually a little piece of Birmingham's history. Opening in 1909, The Electric Cinema is the oldest working cinema in the city and is also the ONLY independent cinema in the region which hasn't been taken over by one of the big boys.
I immediately saw this tatty little tucked away cinema as something much more interesting than visiting a uniform big screen venue. And boy, does it look tatty. Now I know how old and unchanged the building is I can appreciate how solid and true to it's history the outside of the building is; I could imagine the place not having changed too much since it opened nearly 100 years ago. It's a lovely looking place when viewed with this attitude and the only thing wrong with the cinema is its location. I'd imagine back when it opened town wasn't such a built up area and The Electric Cinema would have been something of a centre piece for the city's population, but now this cute little building looks out onto a hideous multi storey car park and a half demolished (and apparently forgotten about) shopping centre. It's a shame cos this place could really thrive if it was picked up and moved to a nicer spot!
I was surprised as I walked through the old fashioned glass and brass front door at how small the foyer is. On one side is a small art deco bar and the entrance to Screen 1 is directly in front of you, with a tiny ticket office squeezed alongside the bar. It's so quaint; I fell in love with the cinema there and then. The foyer is decorated in pleasant neutral colours with various old fashioned movie style photographs and advertisements. Upstairs is Screen 2, yep this cinema only has two screens. Welcome to the good old days.
Anyway, you can only watch one screen at a time and I was more than happy with our seating in Screen 1. What really makes The Electric Cinema stand out from the crowd is its fabulous seating arrangement. Standard, although old fashioned styled, cinema seats make up most of the room but the back four or five rows have been removed to create a kind of living room environment. Plush two seater leather sofas and small tables are arranged along with vases of flowers and other nice touches; we were lucky and our prize tickets were for the sofa seats – and, get this, we got to use text waiter service!
Text waiter service is amazing; I've never seen anything like it. When you first go to the bar you'll be told all the ins and outs and given a mobile phone number to text when you want your next drink. Simply text your drinks and snacks order along with your seat name (the sofas are all named after big Hollywood stars) to this number and it'll be delivered to your table within minutes. Talk about class warfare, the waiter service is only available to those in sofa seats and my 10 year old commented about the 'plebs' in the standard seats who had to go to the bar themselves! Mind you, after texting twice I started to feel like I was taking the pee and ended up trekking to the bar myself! You pay for your drinks at the end of the film with no extra cost for the running about the poor barman had to do, can you imagine asking the Odeon to open a tab for you AND bringing you top ups all the way through the film?
The sofas are really comfortable, those kind of seats where you can feel yourself sinking further and further down into the cushions as you relax. I also tried out one of the standard seats and they're also lovely to sit in with thick springy cushions and wide backs.
Snacks in The Electric Cinema are short and sweet; you won't be filling your belly in here, although they do provide a tempting array of sweet treats for you to munch while watching the film. They serve a delicious home made ice-cream from JustRachel Icecreams; I had a wonderful butterscotch and orange ice-cream and it tasted fabulous, only £2 for a decent sized dish which is something of a bargain compared to most other cinemas. They also stock a range of cakes, which appear to change regularly and are marked on a chalk board, posh chocolates and a selection of savoury nibbles (served in a real bowl!) such as tortilla chips, nuts and mixed fruit. A charming little menu. What struck me is the fact that everything available is so reasonably priced, perhaps I'm used to paying a small fortune for mass produced snacks in the larger cinemas but I was surprised at how deliciously fresh the food tasted and how cheap it was.
Because of the fact that The Electric Cinema has only 2 screens, they're obviously limited to how many films they can show at any one time. They do show everything which is being shown at the larger cinemas, only they have to have a strict programming schedule. If you're planning on a visit I'd definitely recommend phoning beforehand to check what's showing and work your trip around the time of the film you want to watch.
Tickets to watch a film in The Electric cinema are priced depending on the seating you want. Standard seating costs £6 per ticket, while to book a sofa will set you back £12 per person – and you can't sit just one on a sofa, there must be two of you which means the total cost is £24 per sofa. A pretty expensive way to enjoy the latest blockbuster, but once you've sampled a film in the luxury of a leather sofa you'll never want to go back to flip-up cinema seats again! I'd recommend booking a sofa by simply calling the cinema before your visit as I'd imagine they fill up pretty quickly, especially at the weekend performances.
Wheelchair access is fine, although again I'd recommend booking before just turning up as you'll be given an appropriate seat if you tell them about any mobility problems you may have. Doorways are wide and steps are kept to an absolute minimum, because of the small size of the building you may get into some difficulty if you have a bulky wheelchair but providing you have someone with you (or don't mind asking a member of staff) you'll be fine.
So go and take a look at Brum's oldest cinema, you'll never want to be a sheep in the Odeon again!
The Electric Cinema
47 – 49 Station Street
Birmingham
B5 4DY
Tel: 0121 6437879"
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