Old Market Hall Cinema, Shrewsbury. Getting ready for to be part of a multi venue arts event across Shropshire

Shropshire Star

We call in at the Old Market Hall Cinema in Shrewsbury. It's one of the venues that will be taking part in an arts event across Shropshire coming up.

Transcript

00:00Old Market Hall Cinema and Roberto, hello sir, you okay?

00:04Yes, good morning Steve, how are you? I'm good thank you matey. I've um, all the times I've been

00:09into the square in Shrewsbury and I'm sad to say I've never made the the pilgrimage upstairs to

00:14the cinema, I've just been up there. It's beautiful isn't it? It's fantastic, one of Shrewsbury's

00:19greatest secrets. It really is, you know, even the screen room, all those exposed beams, I wasn't

00:26expecting that you know. Yeah well it's a fine old building, considered to be one of the

00:34most historic and important buildings in this area. It was completed in 1596 so it's quite an old

00:43building in itself and when you walk around the space you can see the traditional building methods

00:51that they use. Um, and... I've got it. No, that's cool, no because I can just, we'll just keep going

00:59so I can snip it and that. Oh right, okay. So I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what took me back,

01:03I wasn't expecting such lovely big windows and all that natural light flowing in the kind of the cafe

01:09area. Yeah that's, that's great pros and cons really. Um, you know, it's sort of, it's a bit like a

01:16greenhouse sometimes. Oh yeah, of course, it can, yeah. So the temperature variation, depending on

01:21what time of year, can go from a little bit chilly to quite warm. Yeah, yeah. Um, but, but that's okay,

01:28it's really nice to be able to see out into the square. A lot of people who come to visit, um, always

01:34run for the window seats. Yeah. Um, they're a favourite. Um, if you look up at the ceiling, you'll see

01:42all the traditional building methods that they, they've used. Uh, and we, uh, have been open for

01:52over 20 years. Yeah. Um, the rebuild and the refurb of making it into a cinema, you can actually see

02:01where they've had to, um, repair and they've continued using the same building methods. Yeah. Um, and

02:12one thing I'm, that, that, that really strikes me is the main central beam runs right across the cafe

02:21bar. Yeah. Uh, uh, that piece of wood is probably over a thousand years old. It's crazy, isn't it?

02:27It's crazy. And a lovely range of drinks and snacks up there. You've got a few there with you. We've got a,

02:32we've got some fresh muffins and that did I see and little cakes like that. We have a full license bar.

02:39Yeah. Um, and we also offer a variety of cakes and we have some savory food as well. Yeah. Um,

02:50what we try to do is incorporate as much, uh, locally sourced and produced stuff. So for example,

02:58um, our cake suppliers all come from this area. Yeah. Um, and again, uh, things like the muffins,

03:08the egg custards, uh, the scones, uh, they're all massive favorites here. Yeah. Um, tend to sell

03:16out very quickly. Yeah. Well, I mean, looking at that space you've got there, I mean, it does say

03:21cafe bar. It's a lovely spot, even if you're not watching the films to pop for a drink and a little

03:25snack, isn't it? Yeah. Um, yeah, we are a cafe bar, not just a cinema, but a cafe bar. And the two

03:31really complement each other very well. Um, and you know, some people come here just for a coffee.

03:39You don't necessarily have to go in to see a film. That's always an option. Um, but yeah,

03:44we, we have quite a lot of regulars on a daily basis that come just for coffee,

03:49yeah. It's gone sandwich slice of cake. And, um, talking of films, if you do like films with nail

03:56and eyes coming up as a bit of a special five film, um, it's like a mini film festival,

04:01I guess you're having, isn't it? Tell us something called the rural remix. Yeah. And it's part of a

04:08wider, um, selection of streams that are going on around the county. Uh, we are showing five films

04:17in July, uh, one of which is with nail and eye, um, which was proven to be quite popular. We've

04:24only got about three or four tickets left. So if you want a ticket, get out, get in the ship.

04:28And there's a few other films still, still to be signed on the dotted line sort of thing,

04:33isn't there? So I, the, the, the other ones that are coming up. Yeah. Well, behind the scenes,

04:37putting together a film program is not as easy as you think it is. Um, there has to be

04:45negotiations with all the distribution and production companies. And they each will have

04:52their own set of stipulations about what you can see and what you can't see when you can see it,

04:59how many times you have to show it. Yeah. So putting together a program, um, is quite complex

05:07actually. Yeah. Because we are a full time, uh, uh, cinema theater, um, uh, you know, that

05:18job in itself is, is very, uh, complex and ongoing as we run a comprehensive, uh, cinema program

05:27throughout the year. Yeah. Quite often we have, uh, several films showing in a week. Uh, uh,

05:35today, for example, there are two different screenings going on. Um, we have one screen here.

05:45Uh, capacity is 81 seats. Um, and there is room for wheelchair seats. Yeah. Um, and some lovely,

05:55comfy new seats. You've just had installed as well, isn't there? Yes. Comfy new seats. Yeah. Um,

06:01and, uh, yeah, it's a very nice, cozy, intimate, uh, space. And we, we should give a shout out that

06:10the, the price for the, the tickets for the film fest, they're kind of a bit of a special discounted

06:15rate as well, aren't they? Uh, yeah. Tickets are priced at six pounds. Bargain. Bargain. It's a bargain.

06:21Yeah. Yeah. Uh, normal prices range from about nine pounds to about 12 pounds. Yeah. But even so,

06:27compared to lots of other places, you know, they're very comprehensive price. Um, and,

06:34and then we have things we call special screenings, such as live broadcasts of opera and national theater,

06:44uh, uh, productions and sometimes gallery, um, uh, documentaries. Yeah. Um, overall, uh, you know,

06:54we run, uh, uh, what I think is a really comprehensive, um, uh, program, which hopefully, uh, there's something

07:05for everybody to come and see. Cool. So just give us a shout out for the name of that festival that's

07:11coming up then in July. The Rural Remix. Yeah. Yeah. It's called Rural Remix. Yeah. Cool. So the

07:19festival is Rural Remix. Cool. So you've heard it here first, folks. So keep your eyes peeled and

07:25check out the old market hall. If not for a film next week, then pop in for a cup of tea and a nice

07:30muffin. Cheers, Roberto. Cheers, brother. Okay. Cheers. Thank you.

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