I’d read all about The Everyman Cinema Group on fellow blogger Heroine in Heels site several months ago, so when I heard it was due to open in Birmingham, in the Mailbox Shopping & Eating Complex I was pretty excited.
The Everyman Cinema encompasses 3 screens, all with sofa and armchair seating only, complete with cushions & foot rests – what more could you ask for watching a film!? Obviously its not new for Birmingham for have a cinema with sofas – The Electric does it brilliantly with an intimate atmosphere and an innovative ‘Text Waiter’ service, but I was still interested to see what the Everyman could bring.
The entrance to Everyman is quite inconspicuous – we almost missed it, but once inside you are transported into a luxurious bar and restaurant area. There’s the option to eat and drink before, after and during the film – you can order hot food to be delivered to your seat at the start of the film, yes even burgers pizzas and hot dogs! I wasn’t too sure how I felt about this – people munching away on a burger next to me didn’t sound THE most appealing.
We spent about 45 mins in the bar area, which has a mezzanine level as well, perfect for watching the comings and goings of the world below. We tried a couple of drinks including a few cocktails; reasonably priced, but my Mojito wasn’t the best version I’ve tried. The sofas in the main bar downstairs thought are tremendously comfy, so try and bag one of those if you can!
In the end we didn’t purchase any hot food – it looked well presented though, on the ever popular boards and trays. We ordered a few things to be delivered to our seat – some hummus and flat bread, a small popcorn, some retro candy and a chocolate milkshake. Apologies for the pics of these – but iPhone flash in a dark cinema isn’t great! (before the trailers&film had started before anyone starts berating me for using my phone in the cinema….).
Image from Everyman Website
The milkshake was quite good, the sweet treats were the standard haribo etc and I did enjoy the flatbread and generous portion of hummus. I found it a bit hard to eat on the sofa with the small table, so I think I would find a burger even harder. Its great for people that want to save time and combine eating and watching, but I think I’ll stick to eating ‘normally’!
The film we went to watch was Still Alice, for which Julianne Moore recently won a Best Actress Oscar – a really thought provoking and heartbreakingly sad movie about suffering with early onset Alzheimers Dementia, but well worth a watch.
We did enjoy our first Everyman Experience and I think it’s a great addition to the city. It’s not going to beat The Electric for my favorite cinema in Birmingham, but I will certainly be back for another try.
