This is the second time in a month at this cinema, and on the 14th April 2016 I had assumed that the strong urine smell that filled the whole ticketing/lobby area, would have gone, I was wrong.
We paid over £30 for basic tickets and some snacks, and went into the film. Half way through the film I went to the loo. Before getting anywhere near the loos, I was hit by the same smell that haunted the whole front part of the cinema last time, this time it wasnt so bad everywhere, but 10 Metre of less from the loos it was there, and it wasnt going away. I went in, toilets dirty and smelled of urine. On the way out I spotted what looked like a manager, and thought it was the best time to go discuss this problem, that shouldn't be there when one pays the sort of premium cash required to access films in this cinema and eat their snacks that can be had for 1/4 of the price in many places.
I waited near the manager as he was with a "maintenance man" looking person. He looked over at me and gestured for me to discuss what I was looking to. I asked him why there was a smell of urine near the toilet area, he said there wasn't. I said that there was, and he went over near the toilet doors, sniffed, came back over and said no, he couldn't smell anything. The maintenance man then went over, sniffed, came back over and said that there was no smell. A teenager was standing outside the toilets, I asked over to him if he could smell anything over there, he said Yes, I asked him if it smelled of urine, and he said Yes, a confirmation! The "maintenance man" who was standing with the manager then said "what are you talking to me for, I dont work here", I said that the manager had referred me to him, as he was maintaining the loos, he was aggressive, he then went on to say that he didn't work for the cinema. I advised him to stop being aggressive, which he was being. The manager advised that the maintenance man had been working in the toilets before, I then asked "why, i thought you said that there was no problem", and he advised that there was no problem.
The manager did not say or do anything else, this was clearly the scale of his leadership and management skills. I walked away back into the cinema, realising that this was an ongoing problem, and that the staff and maintenance contractor were told by someone to deny that the place stinks of urine.
This is an expensive cinema, the manager is clearly in no way capable of admitting when things are not right, and is in no way capable of reassuring customers who are concerned about hygiene issues.
Next time I will visit an independent cinema, that was not a positive experience, and any negatives were not righted by that manager. read more