Theatre concession in the auditorium

[Frank Cox]

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/may/07/historic-oxford-cinema-under-threat-as-oriel-college-refuses-to-extend-lease

The above article includes two pictures that seem like a really odd design.

Has anyone seen another theatre with the concession counter located inside of the auditorium? I don't see how that could work unless they shut 'er down completely before the show starts.

And there's nothing on the walls or ceiling in the way of sound traps either....



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[Ryan Gallagher]

I'd guess this is an example of one of those spaces that was not a cinema by design, and repurposed into one. I think your theory about closing concessions would be the film lovers way to do it, but this might be more of a "social" type space, we've seen plenty of examples of those, once with the bar directly below the screen even.

[Frank Cox]

The article says that it's been a movie theatre since 1911, so it's not something just slapped together out of an old warehouse or anything like that. Apparently it's always been a theatre.

[Marcel Birgelen]

This has been done before in other places, some have since closed those counters to save on costs, since if you operate more than one screen and have a counter in every screen, you also need to staff them.

But one cinema around here that has four screens and still operates a full counter and bar in every screen.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a picture or video of such a counter/bar. But I can assure you, there is one in every one of their screens. The bar pictured here at the end of the video is in their central bar and restaurant.

It's a "service cinema", so there is actually no need to even walk up to the bar as everything that's on offer will also be delivered to your seat. Controversially, they also offer this service during the movie. They don't offer full meals though, only a variety of snacks, but they're often served on real plates, not in throwaway plastic or cardboard boxes or trays.

Then, the following cinema, in Aachen Germany comes to mind with a pretty radical concept, with an entire bar IN FRONT of the screen (maybe the one Ryan is referring to):

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I visited once, expected to hate it, but it wasn't that bad, it also wasn't that special that I ever went back, even though it's just a 30 minute drive for me. They close the bar during the main feature. If you sit on the balcony, which has more traditional seats than those strange lounge seats, the bar will be bar-ely (haha and stuff) in your field of view.

I also remember a few theaters that have toilets that are directly accessible from within the actual theater, so not via the lobby, some of them notably at the front of the room, which is a bit of an awkward position, as everybody else in the room can see you heading towards the silent room.

[Tim Reed]

Seems like the Normal Theatre in Normal, Illinois did this in the 90s when they reopened as a rep house.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

If it,s in the back or in a recessed area I could tolerate it. But up front by the screen, I'd be asking for a refund.

[Mike Blakesley]

The ArtHouse Theater in Billings has a similar setup, with the bar to the left of the seats. I don't know if they close it during movies or not. My guess is "not."

But that place is about as opposite from a regular theater as you can get. The floors are flat, and the screens are quite small. It's 3 screens but none of them are "big" like a typical theater's biggest houses.

[Marcel Birgelen]

While those concepts do have some merits, they also do have their distractions.

A) The sounds coming from there, even if they do their best, they need to work at a certain speed and it's hard to do that entirely silently.
B) You need some light to do your work, that light ends up as stray light inside the auditorium.
C) Ordering something from a bar without making any kind of sound is pretty hard.

A concessions bar outside the auditorium doesn't have to bother about all those little details and can remain open during the movie without much of the distractions. My urge to go to the concessions bar during the movie is usually pretty limited. Personally, I'm still a fan of intermissions for longer movies, which really do have the tendency of keeping concession and toilet traffic to a minimum during the movie.

[Bobby Henderson]

The only kind of theater where I would be willing to tolerate concessions business going on behind me is at an outdoor drive-in movie theater.

[Tj Hopland]

My guess would be that at some point what ever lobby / street frontage space there may have been got taken for some other more profitable (for someone) use. Maybe it was rented to another tenant? Maybe it was taken to expand a road or some other sort of city infrastructure? And that's assuming there was ever such a space as part of the theater, it may never had had any other space.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Coming back on the video I posted earlier, about a local cinema with a bar in every room. I took the opportunity to take photo of one of the bars. This is the bar at the backside of Room #1, the same room as depicted in the video. It was dark in the rest of the room. It's not common to have any real foot traffic to this bar, as there is seat service during the entire show. Still, it shows that the concept of having the concessions inside the room isn't entirely unique.

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