Crystal Palace begun 2019 with a whole host of new films as the long awaited cinema finally opened in January and welcomed locals.
In the 1960s the cinema was very popular as it displayed favourites to be watched. This included ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ , ‘Planet of the Apes’ and ‘Once upon a time in the West’. Unfortunately, the cinema was closed down and converted into a bingo hall before becoming a Church. However, there was no licence for it to be a church and so the premises was sold to a developer with the intention for it to be converted into flats. The locals were unhappy with this and therefore collected over 30,000 signatures against this proposition. After years of tireless campaigning by the Picture Palace Campaign, Everyman was finally attracted to buy it and convert it back into a cinema.
Dimitri Kostash, manager of Everyman in Crystal Palace, described that Everyman has ‘small boutique cinemas’. They have 22 sites in the UK with a plan to open another 25. Their ‘vision is to bring cinema back to the high street’.
Everyman focuses on having small, comfortable auditoriums instead of having large ones where numerous seats may be empty. Here, the largest screen accommodates 145 people whilst the smallest one seats only 45.
Everyman also offers a ‘personalised service’. Instead of it being very robotic where someone just checks the tickets before you go in, ‘someone takes you to your seat’ and from your seat, you are provided with a menu where you may order food. This can then be served directly to you in the auditorium for you to enjoy whilst watching the film.
Despite being a luxury cinema, the prices are not considerably above other cinemas, where this premium service is not offered. During weekdays after 5pm and weekends, it is £14.80 whilst on Monday to Friday before 5pm, it is £11.80. It costs £9.80 for children.
Currently, Everyman Crystal Palace attracts around 600 people each day as it puts on a number of films. For example, they have put on ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’ specially for mother’s day. Other films they are currently showing include ‘Dumbo’ and ‘Captain Marvel’.
Outside of the auditorium, there is located a bar and spacious seating area to enjoy the food on offer. There are also neon signs around the building. This is because the owner of Everyman, enjoys collecting an array of neon signs from charity shops and displaying them in each cinema. Dimitri Kostash talked about the possibility of one day having a treasure hunt of the neon signs across all Everyman sites.
Everyman Crystal Palace is the perfect place for anyone to go and unwind, whether it is to just sit in the bar, watch a film or enjoy the food on offer.
