Saturday Night Electric

Saturday nights at the cinema used to be the lazy-date option. In recent years, however, such outings are made with less frequency. While this is largely because the price of tickets and popcorn now require the purchaser taking out a bank loan, cinema-viewing’s decline is also the result of better pirating options available online.

Regardless of the above, myself and five friends decided to venture out to Notting Hill’s Electric Cinema at the weekend to indulge in some Pick’n’Mix and a bit of Daniel Day-Lewis (in his Oscar-nominated flick, There Will Be Blood). Organised earlier in the week one member of our party was supposed to order the tickets as well as make a pre-movie dinner reservation at the complex’s adjoining restaurant. While we weren’t to go hungry, said-friend forgot about film.

Never fear, technology will always prevail: The boys in our party pulled out their Blackberries to search for other options in the West London area… and then the South-West Boroughs… But it appeared that the Electric had dibs on Danny.

To add insult to injury – although we girls were now happily munching down on our gourmet roast pork sandwiches with a side of rocket and parmesan salad in lieu of fries – the boys discovered that London cinemas haven’t quite caught-up with the 9.30pm-session trend celebrated in both the States and Australia (all-Aussies amongst us, with four out of the six having spent time in NYC). Instead after the 8.50pm main feature they offer the un-Godly options of 11pm and midnight. I’m not Cinderella by any stretch of the imagination, but surely moviegoers suffer the pumpkin of tiredness?

The rest of the meal – a little pricey but worth it for the funky décor, open-kitchen and fresh spin on old English classics – was spent with our party deliberating on the movie-going experience, and reassuring each other that we weren’t in fact old fuddy-duddies. Instead, we delighted in the prospect of watching some new releases that our friends had recently downloaded (read: pirated); kudos to the techno-savvy once again! What could be a better alternative to the comfy lounges of the Electric, than the plush lounges in their Notting Hill pad, complete with Hagendaas ice cream and a selection of chocolate treats from Tesco? And no bank loan required.

THE ELECTRIC CINEMA

191 PORTOBELLO RD LONDON W11 2ED

BOX OFFICE: 020 7908 9696