Choice, Is there one?

In Glasgow there are only two main cinemas, the Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) and Cineworld. That's it. So do we have a choice when we decide to go to the cinema. Don't get me wrong there are other cinemas in Glasgow like Odeon but this is less well known and hasn't been established as long. With Glasgow losing cinemas like the previous cinema that is now the O2 ABC (a music venue) is it only a matter of time before we lose cinema from Glasgow all together? I hope not.

Glasgow's Cineworld Multiplex.

Location

The two major cinemas in Glasgow are almost right next to each other just off of Sauchiehall street. For me these two cinemas are quite a walk away from any main train station, I mean it's not that far but it's not that close either, so this is a major disadvantage as train and bus travel are the two main means of transport to get into central Glasgow at ease.

This is especially annoying when you go to see a late night movie and don't actually live in central Glasgow. By "late night" movie I mean 8 o'clock, due to the location of the cinemas in Glasgow I need to have enough time after the movie to walk to the train station and catch the last train home. By walk I mean run, and by catch I mean miss the train completely and having to embarrassingly end the night by begging my parents to pick me up. So, yeah that kind of leaves a lasting impression running through the Glasgow streets at night and now having your friends refuse to go to the cinema if it's not during daylight... Whit?!


Choice

The GFT, the Glasgow Film Theatre

The lack of choice of cinema in Glasgow also impacts the type of movies that are shown in Glasgow. We have cineworld, a gigantic multiplex showing all the latest blockbusters and then we have the Glasgow Film Theatre, which is really appealing to a much smaller market, showing from art house films to classics to independents. 

Fair enough this means a lot of film is covered between the two cinemas but with cineworld being a kind of like a faceless organisation and the GFT really only appealing to a small market, is there no balance? Is there no in between the two where we get a mixture of film all in the one place?


So with living in Glasgow must we travel to the outskirts of the city in order to go to the cinema? The answer should be no, but with the poor location of all cinemas in Glasgow and the choice of film we'll actually see, it makes the outskirts look more and more appealing. By no means am I stomping on Glasgow's cinemas but I feel the placing and choice of cinema could be greatly improved in the future.