REGARDING Empire Cinemas being worried about a new cinema in Bromley.

I decided to take a trip to the Empire in Bromley High Street on a Saturday night.

Hoping to see a film at 8.30pm, I arrived to find all of the ticket machines at the entrance were out of order and the old ticket office booths were boarded up.

Even better, there was a notice warning screen one was very cold and customers could get a full refund within half an hour if they wanted.

There was a queue of around 30 people waiting to be served by three people at the food counter.

Did one of them take any initiative and have a till for tickets only?

No, the three of them were much more interested in serving customers buckets of popcorn and gallons of fizzy drinks to consider not everyone waiting wanted food and drink.

I was eventually served at 8.50pm and rushed to a freezing screen one - I ended up watching the film with my jacket done up and had to put my hat back on - having missed the opening minutes of the film.

I have been going to this cinema for pretty much 30 years now, more often out of convenience than actually thinking it is particularly good.

I often get envious when visiting friends across the country who have modern multiplexes in their town centres.

If the Bromley South development is going to bring a multiplex with more screens and better facilities then it can only be a good thing.

Quite frankly, the current cinema hasn’t had much competition over the years and has felt it probably doesn’t need to make any efforts to improve.

It is about time it bucked its ideas up, as customers will finally have the choice of taking their money elsewhere.

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