I went to the beautiful old cinema in Bowness to watch Ghost In The Shell starring Scarlett Johannsson.

The Royalty Cinema is a charming time capsule of the cinema-going experience as it once was with an old-fashioned foyer area displaying vintage movie posters.

I paid for my ticket at one of those nice old ticket booths only big enough to fit one cashier in and went upstairs (there was a time when cinemas weren't all one one level kids) and sitting in the circle seats looked down at a theatre that I am sure would have changed little over the years.

There was even an old Wurlitzer organ in the corner and these were once a common sight in cinemas up and down the land.

What a nice and nostalgic change from the corporate blandness of the modern multiplexes which have dominated since the early nineties. It also made me a little sad that more was not done to save Theatre One back home in Coventry, which is now just rubble.

Paul Sheehan

Coventry