Showcasecinemas Reviews 170

If i could give it a zero star I would.
I went to the teesside park cinema. First of all there wasn't anyone at the counter to buy tickets. It was self serve. It wouldn't let me buy a ticket It kept saying I couldn't buy ticket near a space. So I went over to the counter a polite girl called Hope helped me. This made me feel much better. I then went to get a coffee again nobody at the counter. Someone eventually came over but said so sorry coffee machine is switched off. So again little bit frustrated with the fact that the place seemed like it was all self service or out of service.
Any way we move on and my Granddaughters bought some Ice cream. And I bought some bits and bobs. This was after waiting for staff to appear again took a while.
On our way to watch Backrooms which is a 15 Rated Film. When this boy named Jake stopped us and said where is your ID now baring in mind My Granddaughter had already showed another young Man her Phone with the ticket on and he never asked for ID. But for some reason Jake thought he would and I understand that he was only doing his job but I'm 62 and My 2 Granddaughter's are Austistic. They were with me. I said they are 15
anyway to cut a long story short we couldn't get in to watch the film and yes I should have read the T& Cs which said that I needed ID. But I didn't.
But I think the place needs more staff. everything is self serve. It didn't have a friendly feel about it at all. Not a great experience. I don't think I will return. I will probably go to Vue Cinema in future as its a much more customer focused

Awful cinema. We went to a sensory showing, sound was so loud we walked out. My autistic son was distraught. When we complained was asked if we spoke to someone. He wanted to leave immediately. He was distressed. No sympathy and have had to chase for a response twice. Nothing. Complete lack of care of understanding.

I won't be back to showcase cinema, terrible understaffed and their computer system is inept. Been twice and dont think ill be using them again.

They have a rule where you can’t leave an unoccupied seat in between other viewers when buying tickets. This is super frustrating because all the good seats left are in threes so leaving me and my mother in law without access to buy tickets. So now we won’t attending even though we were really looking forward to it. Overall poor website experience, especially when the likelihood those seats would be booked mid day for a horror film are so low anyway like so dumb.

Overall cinema etiquette. We went in to watch The Amazing Digital Circus and were appalled. There was nothing but chatter throughout the whole movie, and it was frankly difficult to hear and understand what was going on, At one point we had to turn around and ask them to be quiet and they didnt listen. Also the random clapping when the movie hadn't even started and singing throughout. Great movie, terrible audience.

I had my first visit to the cinema recently, and Kelly at the concession stand made the experience even more enjoyable. She was incredibly kind, helpful, and welcoming from the moment I arrived. She took the time to answer my questions and made me feel comfortable and valued as a customer. Her friendly attitude and excellent customer service really stood out and helped make my first cinema visit a great one. Thank you, Kelly, for such a positive experience

I have access to VIVUP which gives discounts in many area of shopping. It says that it gives 29% discount in tickets but the information the site (VIVUP) gives is: there was an error connecting to showcase. Please try again later.

As I tried yesterday and the answer was the same, how many times I should try and for how long!!!!!

Leeds showcase, one till with a huge que. Self service not working and person at till was getting drinks and popcorn too. Not worth them immense wait and lots of people missed the start of their film!

Bluewater cinema refused entry to the gallery even though had a ticket all because of a function that was being held. Don’t allow gallery tickets to be sold if there is a function happening, some of the staff has no customer service skills

The best cinema good value reveal popcorn staff helpful cost 51 pound got vip bad toilets

I paid for luxury cinema with recliners seat but my seat doesn't work. Staff talking each other just scan my iq and didn't tell us which room is my film.

Peterborough screen we went to was really poor and not clear at all.

Sent them an email and had a case number given but since then which was over 3 weeks ago I have had no response despite sending them two further mails. Customer service poor too.

Avoid Bluewater cinema,it's filthy and nobody bothers to clean the soft drinks machine of the floors.
The atmosphere is unpleasant due to unpredictable gangs wandering around.
Forget this appalling place.

We Pre-booked the tickets. Upon arrival we were directed to the screen. No mention that there was a problem with heating in that screen. Sooo cold in there. Had to wear my coat with hood up and gloves. A really unpleasant experience. When we mentioned it we told we should have been informed before entering the screen. Peterborough

HORRID COSTUMER SERVICE ABSOLUTELY APPALLING THAT THEY WOULDN’T LET US SEE OUR FILM JUST BECAUSE WE DIDNT HAVE ID. CLEARLY LOOK ABOVE THE AGE RANGE AND WOULDN’T HAVE BOOKED IT IF WERENT IN THE RANGE. TRIED TO GET A REFUND BUT TOOK 40 MINUTES TO GET ONE. THEY TRIED TO GET US TO WATCH A KIDS MOVIE WHEN WE HAD BEEN WAITING ALL DAY TO SEE IT. IT DOESNT SPECIFICALLY SAY WE NEEDED ID AND HAD NEVER BEEN CHECKED BEFORE. WE ARE SO MAD AND IT FULLY RUINED OUR DAY!

DO NOT GO TO THIS CINEMA PLEASE SAVE YOURSELF FROM THIS HASSLE IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR AN OVER 15 RATED FILM.

I have been taking my daughter (who is disabled and has a CEA card) to Showcase Reading ever since it opened in (I forget ... 1998? - in other words a _long_ time).

2 days ago things went abruptly down hill.
Ordered tickets for a film. The "Senior" ticket tariff has just gone up by 106% since 1-8-2025. Gross profiteering. Certainly a little bit above inflation.
And just a little point about the booking fee: now that all the personnel are gone from the front of house and the bookings is all by "terminal" there is no material difference between on-line booking and "front of house" booking - so no justification for the £1 fee any more. So take that one away...

Moving along, ordered tickets anyway, receipt e-mailed stated as follows:
CEA card £0.00
Ticket £10.29 (ugh)
Insider Rewards -£0.60
Booking fee £1.00
Sub-total £9.57
Tax (incl. in ticket price) £1.72
Order total £11.29

EXCEPT
Ticket £10.29
Insider Rewards -£0.60
Booking fee £1.00
makes £10.69 (not £9.57) (so the maths in the invoice job is broken)
AND
I was billed £11.29 (so over billed by £0.60 - or in fact lots more if we include the £1 booking fee and the 106% inflation)
AND
the VAT element in £10.69 is £1.78 (noting that this amounts to mis-applying VAT, something for HMRC)
AND
a VAT figure of £1.72 is the VAT element in £10.29 (ie excluding the service of the on-line fee and that the sale price of the ticket was not £10.29 but (£10.29 - £0.60)
AND
"VAT" is not actually mentioned at all, nor is the VAT rate, nor is the total mount to which VAT is applied, so non-compliant VAT invoice.
So by and large the whole thing has become a mess.

I called into the Reading venue and spoke to the manager. He said "I can't take 60p out of the till, do you want me to refund the ticket?".
I replied saying "No, we're seeing the film anyway" and he replied "So you need to take this up with Head Office".
PM'ed Head Office, go a phone number for ... Reading. Asked for a phone number for Head Office... no reply.

Taken in the round my take aways are "what a mess" and "sort this all out or we won't be back".

~~~~
UPDATE 25-01-2026:
Showcase Reading confirmed that the amount I was billed was correct (but not as stated on the receipt) but didn't comment on the dodgy VAT invoice nor the hiked prices nor the removal of "senior" discounts nor - dare I suggest - an apology for the running around.
Typical

My wife lost her credit cards after a visit to the Bluewater cinema so we tried to call to ask if anyone had found them.
We discovered that no-one answers the phone.
We tried calling several times and stayed on the line for ages but no-one answered. I'm guessing the contact number also acts as their complaints line and they don't like dealing with complaints!

Very disappointing experience.

My wife briefly took a couple of photos inside the cinema for personal use. We were given no warning at all. Staff immediately approached us, called the action "illegal", forced us to delete the photos, and then removed us from the screening.

Despite fully cooperating and not recording any video, we were not allowed to return to the film and were refused a refund.

The response was completely disproportionate and lacked basic customer service. A simple warning would have resolved the situation.

I would not recommend this cinema based on how this situation was handled.

Went to this cinema in castle gate Dudley awful experience . No longer have staff doing tickets have to do them yourself on machines . Que to the food was ridiculous 3 staff slow service didn’t bother in the end . My daughter was very annoyed as was promised as a treat and couldn’t get served to get food for the movie . Wouldn’t go again odeon will be our choice in future disgusting service and freezing in there too which didn’t help

I went to watch a Bollywood film and had a really poor experience. The volume was randomly turned down so low I could hear people around me, the subtitles disappeared during the film, and about 15 minutes before it ended the lights were turned on.

When I raised this with the manager, Francis, he said there was a complaint from the screen next door in the noise. Bear in mind this film had been running for over two weeks.

The manager Francis repeated kept cutting me off, spoke over me, and stood towering over me while I was seated, which felt intimidating. Instead of listening, he just tried to throw free tickets at me — which I repeatedly said I didn’t want. I only wanted to give feedback, but he wouldn’t even let me finish. I didn’t take any tickets, as I wouldn’t go back here or spend another penny at Showcase Dudley after that experience.