All Star Factory

[Max]

My kids weren't allowed to take their sweeties into the pictures because "you have to buy sweeties on the premises" - even although they were buying ice blasts and popcorn abd a bottle of water (that cost about £1). I think this is sad and we won't be rushing back to the cinema locally. Everyone I'm sure would buy sweets on the premises if the prices were the same as buying in the shops!

[linzy222]

Do what my kids do!!

Take a backpack with sweeties in it, they will never know



It is expensive enough just getting in the place!!

[Geo]

It is expensive enough just getting in the place!!

Cheaper than Inverness I'm told. My brother's local cinema in London is £9.50! I'd wait for the video to come out if it was that price!

[Geo]

My kids weren't allowed to take their sweeties into the pictures because "you have to buy sweeties on the premises" - even although they were buying ice blasts and popcorn abd a bottle of water (that cost about £1). I think this is sad and we won't be rushing back to the cinema locally. Everyone I'm sure would buy sweets on the premises if the prices were the same as buying in the shops!

I can understand their reasoning. They need to make money. It's the same in restaurants and cafes for example. I doubt many would let you bring your own food.

I do agree that the prices are very high although historically this seems to be the norm for cinemas. I remember it being the same when I was a nipper. I rarely buy much from them because of this. Maybe if they dropped their prices people would buy more and it would balance out.

[William]

when i went to england i went to see that I ROBOT film and i sneeked a pizza in from the pizza hut that was there and it was so easy just do what linzy222 put it in a bag or a carrier bag they won't check and if they ask just say it is shopping

[buggyracer]

They should just close down the cinema, as people would rather it closed than pay a few quid more for what is just about our only modern recreational venue in the county, in fact they could give away free sweets until they have no money left and then close?

[dragonfly]

yeah, then get a frontman in to buy it off the liquidators and sell it back onto them again - oh silly me - thats already been done!

[buggyracer]

another reason why we should stay away from it!! crickey

would you be happier if it did close?

[bird]

When you go to the pix with kids, you expect to pay over the odds for the sweeties and drinks!! I usually balance things by buying popcorn in the place, and bringing sweets in my bag - I've never been challenged yet. I think the staff know full well everyone does it!!!!!

[Rheghead]

If you want to be really sneaky you could buy a very small number of inhouse sweets then take out your own and fill the bag when you are are sat down. Then keep the bag for next time...

It is not dishonest because you are not stealing anything!

[Jennie]

when i went to england i went to see that I ROBOT film and i sneeked a pizza in from the pizza hut that was there and it was so easy just do what linzy222 put it in a bag or a carrier bag they won't check and if they ask just say it is shopping

We used to do that When I lived in Reading, get a pizza then when and watched a film!

[dragonfly]

another reason why we should stay away from it!! crickey

would you be happier if it did close?

No, buggyracer, I never said to stay away and no, I wouldn't be happy if it closed.

I think the All Star Factory is a much needed and valuable facility in Thurso and Caithness and is used frequently by my family. Just the way it was re-aquired has left a lot of tax payers very angry and some businesses substantially out of pocket

[Geo]

Have to agree, it is great having a local cinema, not to mention the other facilities there with the bowling and restaurant. I think the cinema itself is excellent.

[John Traill]

I think the All Star Factory is great. You can't beat a cinema for watching a film and the All Star Factory has very comfortable seats (particularly in Screen 1), good sound because it's not 100 seats wide and a good view of the screen because the back isn't half a mile from it.
Despite the price rise (the only one in the 4 years it's been open), tickets are cheaper than all the other cinemas I've been to in the last couple of years. You get bigger drinks and more popcorn for your money than down south. I don't know about the sweets because they are bad for your teeth and it's easier to not eat them than find a dentist.

JT

[MadPict]

All the cinemas, or multiplexes as they are now known, around me make a big thing about not talking during "performances", and not making a noise, so what do they do? They sell the noisest snacks and sweets known to humankind.
How often have you sat behind someone with a bucket, nay a skip, of popcorn who has crunched and mucnched their way through the film, pausing to slurp on the barrel sized drink with rattling ice cubes in it.
At least the hotdogs are soft and are relatively noise free during mastication. I think porridge should be served in cinemas. Porridge and trifle. And jelly babies....

[Zael]

Well, I think the all star factory is rubbish, the seats are far from confortable, the sound quality is poor at best. The place is covered in litter unless you're in for the first show of the day. The prices for "snacks" is outrageous and their soft drinks are watered down (and that is the opinion of someone who can tell u how good a can of coke will be based on the sell by date and canning factory address). Plus I have to agree about the way it was bought back by basically the original owners after they went bankrupt the first time, mismanagement is an understatement. What does your local GP know about running a cinema anyway? and how many cinemas did the managment work in prior to the all star factory? and why do they not work there now? better pay? I doubt it...

[Riffman]

I dont have a problem with the cinema, the seats are comfy (even for a 6'2" bloke like myself) and the sound is great as long as your are near the front. The laws of physics dictate that sound decays according to an inverse square, hence if you sit at the back row you get a smaller picture and the sound is 4 time quieter than at the front.

I never bother getting drinks or popcorn there, just wear big overcoat (mine has very large pockets) and take your own stuff.

And i agree aboot the noise problem, you can hardly hear the decayed sound cos of all the rattling and crunching!!!

And who wants to travel 21 miles to go to the cinema anyway?

I find that using my 17" flatscreen PC with 7.1 surround sound and active subwoofer, plus my sofa gives the best cinema experience. (plus all the Ironbru i can drink from the Co-op)

Riff

[gravedigga]

I've still never been to the cinema in Thurso - sounds like i'm not missing out on much either!

See they still owe MM Miller money from when it was built http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/dis...entPK=11296634

[John Traill]

their soft drinks are watered down (and that is the opinion of someone who can tell u how good a can of coke will be based on the sell by date and canning factory address).

That's how soft drinks are made in dispensers. Did you expect to see 200 litre drums of Coke arriving in the back of a lorry.

JT

[John Traill]

And who wants to travel 21 miles to go to the cinema anyway?

I find that using my 17" flatscreen PC with 7.1 surround sound and active subwoofer, plus my sofa gives the best cinema experience. (plus all the Ironbru i can drink from the Co-op)

Riff

It confuses me that people in cities will quite happily travel a distance like that to a more expensive multiplex, taking much longer for their journey and people here can only moan about how far it is and how much it costs.

I'm sure you can hardly tell the difference between watching something on a cinema screen and a 17" monitor

JT