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Vue cinema in bid to sell alcohol

9:02am Wednesday 8th June 2011 in News Photograph of the Author By Mark Stead, mark.stead@thepress.co.uk

Vue Cinema at Clifton Moor Vue Cinema at Clifton Moor

MOVIE fans could soon be able to enjoy a pint at the pictures after a York cinema launched a bid to sell alcohol.

Vue, at Clifton Moor, will find out next week whether it can provide booze alongside blockbusters after applying to change the terms of its licence.

The cinema’s owners are asking for permission to sell alcoholic drinks between 9am and 2.30am every day of the week, as well as adding an extra hour to the times it is allowed to show films, play music and stage plays on the day British Summer Time starts. A decision will be made at a City of York Council gambling and licensing hearing next Monday.

Vue Entertainment Limited said it would ensure alcohol could only be bought by movie-goers or those attending other events at the Stirling Road cinema.

In a report to the meeting, the council’s licensing manager John Lacy said that, if the alterations are agreed, alcohol sales would end at 2.30am or half-an-hour before the end of the last film of the night, depending on which was earlier.

He said each auditorium would be visited by a member of staff during films to monitor screens and the behaviour of customers.

He added: “These staff are issued with night-vision goggles or an equivalent. Save for pre-booked functions, alcohol sold in the auditoriums will be supplied only in plastic bottles or plastic glasses.”

The cinema would also have to ensure a Proof of Age scheme was in operation and staff selling alcohol would have to have received the necessary training.

Two letters raising concerns about the application were sent to the council. Rawcliffe Parish Council said it wanted the company to ensure people could not buy drinks and then leave the cinema and to prevent drink being passed to under-18s in the auditoriums. The parish council has since met the cinema’s managers to allay those concerns.

Former Skelton, Rawcliffe and Clifton Without councillor Richard Moore said he would be content with the proposals as long as a personal licence-holder, with responsibility for ensuring the terms of the licence are followed, is on the premises when alcohol is being served.

The City Screen picturehouse in the centre of York already has a licence, and serves alcohol in plastic containers to those watching films.

Top Ten films to enjoy with a drink

• The Beer Hunter
• Pale Ale Rider
• Bend it Like Becks-ham
• Landlord Of The Rings
• Bar Wars
• Cask-ablanca
• Stout Of Africa
• The Girl With The Copper Dragon Tattoo
• Withnail And IPA
• In The Wine Of Fire.

Comments(14)

Theendoftheworld says...
9:06am Wed 8 Jun 11

Nice idea but I'm afraid that if I did have a couple o' pints, at my age I'd miss most of the film and other patrons would be fed up of me getting up and down!

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Soothsayer17 says...
10:08am Wed 8 Jun 11

Hmmm… booze at the Vue? That ought to raise the standard of the clientele...

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Fred the Shred says...
10:08am Wed 8 Jun 11

If this particular cinema wasn't chavy enough and full of undesirables. How many will get tanked up on the incorrect assumption that a couple of hours' kip during the film will make them legal to drive? Just wrong for so many reasons.

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Garrowby Turnoff says...
10:08am Wed 8 Jun 11

Poor idea. Cinemas and booze do not mix. Check the laws concerning fire restrictions with the Fire Officer, it'll never happen.

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spiritofyork says...
10:15am Wed 8 Jun 11

City Screen. So much better now you can take a beer in (rather than sneaking in a warm can under your jacket)

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Guy Fawkes says...
10:31am Wed 8 Jun 11

As Fred the Shred points out, the major issue is drink-driving. This fleapit is nowhere near any homes, which on the one hands means that there is unlikely to be a residential noise nuisance from drunken chavs ... but the flipside is that they're going to have to get home somehow, and like all ring-road multiplexes, that site is designed to be visited by car. It is not within walking distance of many homes and there is little if any public transport, especially in the evenings. For that reason and as with motorway service stations, I don't think a booze licence is a very good idea.

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AngryandFrustrated says...
10:49am Wed 8 Jun 11

Soothsayer17 wrote:
Hmmm… booze at the Vue? That ought to raise the standard of the clientele...
My thoughts exactly!

Can you imagine how much they would charge for a pint? You need a small mortgage just to be able to afford some pop corn and a soft drink! I look forward to sitting, trying to watch a movie I have paid thru' the teeth to see, whilst at the same time blocking out the noise that only **** heads can make dodging the sweets and other items the **** up chavs decide to throw at each other. Makes the Vue sound like a really attractive venue, doesn't it?!

If you can't go thru' a couple a hours without a drink, then you don't need the Vue, you need Alcoholics Anonymous! Alternatively, you could always go to that fleapit of a pub next door!

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Chris1982 says...
10:54am Wed 8 Jun 11

Oh great so not only does the place have to contend with chavs chucking popcorn about, using their mobiles, causing noise, running about etc now people will have to put up with drunkard chavs who think they are cool.

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akuma says...
11:32am Wed 8 Jun 11

A very, very, very, very, very, very BAD idea.
.
It almost impossible to watch a movie without some utter moron talking all the way through as it is, never mind putting beer inside them as well.
.
This will utterly ruin what little chance there is to enjoy a movie.
.
If they do I'll be certainly lucking for a new cinema to use.

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NoMorePlease says...
1:10pm Wed 8 Jun 11

Soothsayer17 wrote:
Hmmm… booze at the Vue? That ought to raise the standard of the clientele...
Exactly right. Maybe a case for mid to late evening but only a slim one, but from 9am ?

Security words: they-dose

and many will if this goes through

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marvell says...
3:52pm Wed 8 Jun 11

Soothsayer17 wrote:
Hmmm… booze at the Vue? That ought to raise the standard of the clientele...
Got to agree - some of the behaviour is bad enough anyway without the need to fuel it further with alcohol. Cinemas are for movies, pubs are for beer. If you want to drink and watch - rent a dvd...

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TheTruthHurts says...
4:55pm Wed 8 Jun 11

Daft idea, i hate this shameless promotion of alcohol. As somebody above said if you cant go a few hours without a drink....

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powerwatt says...
10:56pm Wed 8 Jun 11

I can't see it working for me. I think I would nod off as I usually do during in a film at home after a beer.

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Magicman! says...
12:25am Fri 10 Jun 11

Why do I have an image of Peter Griffin from Family Guy shouting at the cinema screen in my head? I wonder why....

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