Cineworld Cinema - Harlow Harvey Centre

Through the good offices of a Cineworld friend, I was able to take a brief tour of this new cinema. Considering that it occupies space which used to be the upper floor of Tesco’s they have done a remarkable job of raising the roof and creating an impressively large space. The three auditoria that I saw were spacious and lofty with large screens which, of course, lack tabs or masking. Two of the three were proper 2.35:1 screens but the third was a 1.85:1 screen which was playing a ‘scope film stripped across the middle. Wheelchair provision is via a lift at foyer level which gives access to projection level where separate boxes with a few seats and wheelchair space are provided alongside the projection boxes which are small separate boxes for each screen with the space which would have been occupied by a full box taken up with storage, staff rooms and office space. The seating is on the wasteful “stadium block” principle with access passageways at either side leading to the screen end from which one ascends aisles alongside the seating block. Presumably wall to wall seating with access from a central vomitory would be too expensive, but would have increased the capacity markedly. At least the method used gives good sightlines. The foyer and lobby areas are typically murky (as presumably are the auditoria, I didn’t see them with houselights up) which no doubt saves money on cleaning and maintenance as you cannot see the grime which will develop.