The Living Room Cinema
Chipping Norton's independent cinema, less a screen than someone's very good living room, with sofas and a proper drink.
Chipping Norton's independent cinema, less a screen than someone's very good living room, with sofas and a proper drink.
The Living Room is one of those places that makes you wonder why every cinema isn't like this. It sits on the high street in Chippy, small and beautifully run, with sofas and armchairs in place of the usual rows of fold-down seats. They show the new releases alongside plenty else besides, and there's a café-bar for a proper drink before the lights go down. It's the kind of evening where you walk out thinking the film was brilliant, even if it was only quite good, because the whole experience lifts it.
We love that it feels nothing like a multiplex. The screens are intimate, the seating is soft and generous, and the room has the hush of somewhere that cares about the film rather than the popcorn margins. There is something about settling into a proper armchair with a drink to hand that a bank of stadium seating never quite manages, and it changes the whole feel of a night out. It's an easy answer to a grey afternoon or an evening when nobody can face driving far, and it works just as well for two of you on a quiet night as it does for the whole party after a long walk. Small children are welcome at the right screenings, and there's no sense of being hurried in or out.
From the cottage the drive takes about ten minutes, straight into the middle of Chipping Norton, so you're back to the fire before the credits have properly faded. Parking in town is easy in the evenings, and because the cinema sits on the high street among the shops and pubs, you never have to wander far for anything you might want either side of the film.
The programme runs wider than you might expect for somewhere this size. Alongside the mainstream releases there are strands built for particular audiences and the big live broadcasts beamed in from London stages, so it's always worth a look at the listings before you settle on a plan, whatever mood the day has left you in. A few of the regular fixtures worth knowing:
We'd suggest booking ahead, especially at weekends. The screens are small, which is a large part of the charm, but it does mean the popular showings fill up, and the live broadcasts in particular tend to sell out well in advance. Because it's right in the centre of Chippy you can easily make an evening of it: eat somewhere on the high street first, then stroll the few minutes back for the film. On another night you might pair it with a show at The Theatre Chipping Norton, a proper little producing theatre a short walk along the same street. For a wider steer on how to fill the days, our things to do guide gathers the pick of the area, from country houses to swims at the Chipping Norton Lido. Either way it's a complete evening close to home, without ever touching a main road.
“Watching a film from a sofa with a proper drink in hand. It's how cinema should always have been.”
All of this on the doorstep, and your own thatched cottage to come home to. Sleeps seven, less than a mile from Soho Farmhouse.