Cinema
You know what I feel like right now? No, don't you roll your eyes at me. It's not another drink, although that would be nice too. No, I'd like to stroll, hand in hand with the Boy to my local cinema and settle down to a nice Sunday evening flick. Arty or blockbuster, I don't much care. Perhaps Confederate States of America, that might be interesting. Or maybe Cars, the new Pixar toon that the Boy wants see as he's an animator.
What's the problem I hear you say? You can hop in the car and nip to Vue at Cribbs Causeway, a mere 20 minute drive away. Or Showcase, in the other direction. Yeah, s'pose. But I don't want to. I don't want to drive anywhere. I want to walk to my local cinema and then afterwards, perhaps have a cup of coffee somewhere local. I don't want to go to a big featureless out of town box that's going to show me 30 minutes of ads and be playing the latest Sandra Bullock on all 10 screens.
I want the Whiteladies Picture House. Built in 1921, it's a gorgeous Art Deco building, at least from the outside. (I have never been inside) It entertained Bristolians for about 70 years before being closed down, not long before I moved to Bristol. It was owned by the Odeon chain. No problem right? They'll restore it and open it up as a nice local art house catering to students and the local Cliftonians and Cothamists. Hah! It was sold to a developer with a restrictive covenant imposed by Odeon preventing it being used a cinema. So now, what I presume was the lobby is a restaurant/bar called The Picture House, about which I have heard good things (but that's a matter for Bristol Foodie) And the rest is boarded up and disused. I believe there were plans to turn it into a gym which seem to have come to nothing, largely I believe due to a vociferous local campaign to bring back the Picture House, although I may be wrong about this.
Time for another drink. And then a perhaps a walk to the video shop.