Cineworld Cinemas

As others have mentioned, this is what Cineworld calls the «Shaftesbury» location, though it’s just around the corner from the «Haymarket» cinema. It’s a standard city cinema, tucked away into a few upper-​level stories right of Piccadilly. They offer the normal range of first-​run movies and concessions and typical London prices.
The big things to note here (and at every Cineworld) is the Unlimited card, which makes this whole company a great option for movie going. Look into it on their website.
The other thing is the queues. They always seem to have one, both for tickets and concessions, with no real reason, as there’s always unused tills. This means you need to turn up early or risk missing the previews/​start of the movie. Also, the automated machines are quite persnickety.
The theaters themselves are standard, quite nice, though the aisles are narrow and that makes it tough to sneak in late when you’ve been stuck in the queue. Just turn up a bit early and it all goes well though.

I’ve now been to this cinema enough to make a valid opinion on how I feel about it, and I feel… Ok.
This is the Shaftesbury Cineworld (as it’s off of Shaftesbury Ave). It’s tucked away in an entertainment complex. If you see a giant British tourism store and hear the sound of video games, this is the right spot.
Inside, it’s as nice as a theatre can be. Easily acceptable ticket machine right near the door, line that moves relatively fast at the counter, a lounge to the side to sit in while waiting for friends, yes. All good.
There’s a snack counter down here but if the line is insane, there’s another snack counter that always seems to be manned right next to the theatre. So there’s that as a tip.
The theatre itself is OK. It’s clearly an old cinema converted. Cineworld sometimes has this annoying habit of putting their cup holders on the chair in front of you near the floor and I always feel like I’m going to spill my drink. No different here. Chairs are moderately comfortable and the sound and screen are decent. Three star average all the way.
Cineworld also has this insanely annoying habit of playing a million commercials before the movie! I usually tend to come 20 minutes late and the commercials are still playing. Awful. However they do have the Cineworld Card which means it’s only £18 for unlimited movies a month here. That’s amazing, so I guess it balances out.
I’ve seen a lot of movies here and will continue to see a lot of movies here.

My friends coerced me into seeing Twilight last week (I know, I know) and we came to Cineworld to use the 2−4−1 student discount promoted by Orange. With six of us present, we used three codes to purchase 6 tickets for £22.20. Four of my friends had cash while two of us had cards. As one of the cardholders, I suggested that we split the total on our cards and divide the cash between us. I put £11.10 on my card… and then the problems arose.
When my friend tried to pay the second £11.10, the cashier only charged him £5.55, which left £5.55 on the sum. He called over his manager, and neither of them could figure out the problem. The obvious solution was to charge him £5.55 again, but I guess that would have been too easy. Instead, they called some number (who knows who they were trying to reach) and made all of us stand at the register while they were on hold. Eventually, they just let us go to the ticket checker. One problem: they didn’t give us any tickets! When we questioned this incongruence, they just shooed us away and told us not to worry about tickets. Ok.
We walked up to the ticket checker and told him that we didn’t have tickets but wanted to see Twilight. In any normally functioning movie theatre, we would have been promptly turned away. But the ticket checker told us to proceed to Theatre 5. As we walked on, he yelled back at us that it was actually showing in Theatre 7. Oops?
Because of our late arrival and the delay at the cashier, we could only find seats in the 2^nd row. Ugh. Oh, and the movie was terrible.

Every month when i check my bank statement, i see a number of payments that have been paid by direct debit. Fixed contracts … i have to pay for them whether i like it or not (like the BT landline connection i need for my broadband … but i don’t even have a landline handset).
But the one entry i never crib about is the Cineworld membership fee (i have had it ever since i started living in UK).
At £16.50 a month (it was £14 when i first joined) it allows me to watch unlimited movies at any of the Cineworlds … and given the steep multiplex ticket prices everywhere, the break-​even is only 2 movies a month. I go many more times than that … i am a movie addict :) The only catch is that you can book tickets only on the day of the movie and not in advance … but i can live with that.
Tip: If you are living in London, never go for the discounted version that excludes the 4 central london theatres. You lose a lot in option value.
I visit this cineworld at trocadero most often … primarily because it shows a number of Hindi films (the hyped ones at least).
This multiplex chain has branches almost everywhere. The seats are comfortable, with good legroom. The air condition failed once in my experience, but generally the audience is well taken care off. Aside from the fact that the theatre snack bar has a very limited menu and is somewhat overpriced, i have nothing to complain about.