Renoir Cinema has been showing art-house and foreign language movies since 1972, and the fact that it is still around is a testament to its popularity.
It's located in the recently done-up Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury, a five-minute walk from Russell Square tube station. When you come across it for the first time, your initial reaction might well be: "Is that it?" for all you see is a little glass box. That's just the entrance though - the Renoir, you see, is an underground cinema.
Like the Brunswick Centre,
Renoir Cinema also underwent a refit a couple of years ago, and now offers comfortable seating together with state-of-the-art audio and projection facilities.
Today's Renoir Cinema comprises two large screens with enough seating for more than 250 people, and an attractive bar which can hold up to 80 people - the perfect place for a pre-movie drink or a post-movie discussion (with a drink, naturally). Free Wi-Fi is also available in the bar area.
A top price adult ticket (after 5pm weekdays and after 2pm weekends) costs £10.50, though if you become a member of Cineaste (£50 a year) your ticket will cost a couple of quid less.
Cineaste membership also gets you two free tickets when you join up, 10 percent of DVDs, books and magazines sold at the cinema, and lots of other goodies too. Click
here to find out more about becoming a Cineaste member.
If you go along on a weekday after 2pm but before 5pm, you can get a regular non-member ticket for just £7.50. Films showing before 2pm cost even less - £6.
The Renoir Cinema is a popular movie theatre with friendly staff that take pride in their work and evidently enjoy sharing their love of film with visitors.
Its location is perfect - the newly refurbished
Brunswick Centre is home to lots of restaurants and cafes now, so you can comfortably spend a whole evening there, grabbing a bite to eat before making your way to the cinema.
