The last single-screen cinema sells out on a Tuesday

No streaming deal, no recliners, one film a week. The queue goes round the block.

6 October 20267 min read

A dark cinema audience watching a lit screen — The 20:15 showing

The Palace has one screen, 412 seats and no recliners. It shows one film a week, twice a night, and does not sell tickets online.

On a Tuesday in October the 20:15 showing sold out by seven. The queue went past the chemist and round the corner.

How it survived

Every other single-screen cinema in the county closed in the last fifteen years. The Palace came within a month of joining them.

The owner, who took it over from her father, stopped competing on new releases. She could not get them in the first week anyway. She began choosing one film herself and telling people why.

"I write four lines on a card in the window," she said. "If I cannot explain in four lines why you should see it, I do not book it."

What a night costs

A ticket: about half the price of the multiplex ten minutes away
Popcorn: made in the foyer, one size
Adverts before the film: none
Trailers: one, for next week

The projectionist has worked the booth for thirty-one years and still introduces the late show from the front when he feels like it.

Who comes

The audience skews older on Sundays and under thirty on Tuesdays, when students have worked out that the seats are cheaper than a streaming subscription split four ways.

Several said the same thing in different words: at home they pause films. Here they cannot.

What is next

The roof needs replacing and the owner is raising the money by selling the names on the seats. Row F is gone. Seat 14 in it went first, and she will not say who bought it.

Next storyCultureOne take, one street, four minutesHow a band with no budget made the most watched video of the autumn in a single night.

Culture

No streaming deal, no recliners, one film a week. The queue goes round the block.

By Hannah VossCulture critic

6 October 20267 min read

The Palace has one screen, 412 seats and no recliners. It shows one film a week, twice a night, and does not sell tickets online.

On a Tuesday in October the 20:15 showing sold out by seven. The queue went past the chemist and round the corner.

How it survived

Every other single-screen cinema in the county closed in the last fifteen years. The Palace came within a month of joining them.

The owner, who took it over from her father, stopped competing on new releases. She could not get them in the first week anyway. She began choosing one film herself and telling people why.

"I write four lines on a card in the window," she said. "If I cannot explain in four lines why you should see it, I do not book it."

What a night costs

A ticket: about half the price of the multiplex ten minutes away
Popcorn: made in the foyer, one size
Adverts before the film: none
Trailers: one, for next week

The projectionist has worked the booth for thirty-one years and still introduces the late show from the front when he feels like it.

Who comes

The audience skews older on Sundays and under thirty on Tuesdays, when students have worked out that the seats are cheaper than a streaming subscription split four ways.

Several said the same thing in different words: at home they pause films. Here they cannot.

What is next

The roof needs replacing and the owner is raising the money by selling the names on the seats. Row F is gone. Seat 14 in it went first, and she will not say who bought it.

Next storyCultureOne take, one street, four minutesHow a band with no budget made the most watched video of the autumn in a single night.

Culture

No streaming deal, no recliners, one film a week. The queue goes round the block.

By Hannah VossCulture critic

6 October 20267 min read

The Palace has one screen, 412 seats and no recliners. It shows one film a week, twice a night, and does not sell tickets online.

On a Tuesday in October the 20:15 showing sold out by seven. The queue went past the chemist and round the corner.

How it survived

Every other single-screen cinema in the county closed in the last fifteen years. The Palace came within a month of joining them.

The owner, who took it over from her father, stopped competing on new releases. She could not get them in the first week anyway. She began choosing one film herself and telling people why.

"I write four lines on a card in the window," she said. "If I cannot explain in four lines why you should see it, I do not book it."

What a night costs

A ticket: about half the price of the multiplex ten minutes away
Popcorn: made in the foyer, one size
Adverts before the film: none
Trailers: one, for next week

The projectionist has worked the booth for thirty-one years and still introduces the late show from the front when he feels like it.

Who comes

The audience skews older on Sundays and under thirty on Tuesdays, when students have worked out that the seats are cheaper than a streaming subscription split four ways.

Several said the same thing in different words: at home they pause films. Here they cannot.

What is next

The roof needs replacing and the owner is raising the money by selling the names on the seats. Row F is gone. Seat 14 in it went first, and she will not say who bought it.