Camden News: Daniel Broch

Publications by New Journal Enterprises

Home

Archive

Competition

Camden News - by KATE FERGUSON
Published: 14 August 2008

Daniel Broch

Popcorn kicks the bucket at top cinemas

SWEET or salty? Large or small? Popcorn has always been a divisive snack – but now it appears cinema-goers may not get the choice.
Cinemas in the north of the borough are at the forefront of a new trend to ditch popcorn buckets altogether from the screens. Both the Everyman in Hampstead and the Tricycle Cinema in Kilburn have ditched popcorn buckets and gone for more upmarket treats.
Regular film fans – including some of the best-known movie critics – have warned the decision will spoil a night out at the pictures.
But the days of scoffing a bucket of popcorn and washing it down with a vat of Coke may be over. Instead audiences at the Everyman should look out for olives and focaccia and Campari cocktails.
Everyman owner Daniel Broch, who has just bought 17 more venues including the Screen on the Hill in Haverstock Hill, Belsize Park, said: “This is nothing to do with snobbery. I love popcorn – it’s a great product, but this is to do with branding. Cinema and popcorn are totally identifiable with one another and we wanted to create a different concept. Popcorn is operationally messy and the smell is a big problem.”
Nicolas Kent who runs the Tricycle Cinema said: “It’s smelly and a lot of people don’t like it. I think people who come to a really comfortable cinema want people to consume film not food.”
Not all film-lovers agree. At a press screening, James Christopher, film critic on The Times, told the New Journal: “When I am not having to sit in screenings I always get a big bag of popcorn. It is the essential accompaniment to any good film. It is part and parcel of the cinema-going experience. You can’t just get rid of popcorn and expect no one to make a fuss.”
The Daily Mail’s Chris Tookey added: “Some films would not be bearable without popcorn – it’s essential to work your way through a tub. There are even popcorn movies, which are always enjoyable – although perhaps not very good for you.
“I can’t imagine a cinema that doesn’t have popcorn.”

Comment on this article.
(You must supply your full name and email address for your comment to be published)

Name:

Email:

Comment:

Your comments:

People eating popcorn are a disturbance to the films atmosphere,unless, of course, it has none,as in the case of 'Dark Knight'. Yes- put popcorn into room 101!
David Prothero