Station Cinema: The Yorkshire cinema housed in a former Victorian railway station
There’s nothing worse than watching a film in a clinical multiplex cinema devoid of personality and character.
Sure, you get a comfy, reclining seat, but as you walk to your screening – the stale smell of popcorn lingering on the carpet – and witness the giant posters for the latest, soulless blockbusters, you hardly feel a semblance of community or artistic excitement.
Undoubtedly, there’s always going to be some knobheads on their phones, or those who come in ten minutes late (despite the 20 minutes of adverts beforehand) and shine their torches to find their seats. Chain cinemas rarely deliver the ideal cinematic experience, and they’re never cheap, either.
I’ve had some pretty awful encounters with irritating individuals in cinemas over the years, munching, rustling, and slurping as though they’re the only ones in the room. People whispering, texting, and even photographing the screen for their Snapchat story (what year is this?). But go to an independent theatre, one where the art of watching movies is as important as the art of cinema itself, and your faith in movie-going might be restored.
There is something so special about watching a movie in an unconventional cinema set-up, steeped in history and surrounded by fellow movie-lovers who actually want to watch films without distraction – without the accompaniment of an overpriced Tango Ice Blast that’ll inevitably leave you needing to exit the screening at one point or another to let that £8 worth of sugary, colourful liquid pass.
Luckily, the UK has quite a few great indie cinemas spread across its towns and villages, many of which utilise unconventional spaces to encourage cinema-going in locations which might not be well-connected to giant multiplexes. Yorkshire is packed with unusual and historical cinemas, like Leeds’ Hyde Park Picture House, the only gaslit cinema remaining in the country, established back in 1914, while Howsham Mill in the north of the county has played host to the world’s first hydro-powered cinema screening.
Then there’s The Station Cinema in Richmond, which, as you can probably guess, is located inside an old train station first opened in 1846. With a glazed roof and iron columns to give the station an impressive interior, this Victorian station was once a busy hub for the town, but by 1969, it fell into disuse, as these things sometimes do.
After becoming a garden centre, the building once again became unused, and for six years it stood empty… By 2007, it had been transformed into a multi-venue space, with places to eat, view art, and shop, but its best asset is its cinema, with three screens and plenty of community events to unite film-lovers. Not only do they frequently show a wide array of movies, but they often have filmmakers in attendance and even an annual film festival.
Why go to your local Vue, Cineworld, or Showcase when you could go somewhere like The Station or similarly unique and independently-run cinemas? Putting your money in the hands of these giant capitalistic chains that don’t really care about cinema is not the solution during such an increasingly money-focused, commercialist era for filmmaking.
We need to keep the indie cinemas that show interesting films alive, because they foster real community – and they won’t rip you off for some flavoured ice, either.
