People Are Realising You're Allowed To Take Your Own Snacks Into The Cinema

Everyone knows that cinema snacks and drinks are massively overpriced - usually as a way for venues to rake in extra earnings from peckish visitors.

But with ticket prices rising, many of us opt to sneak in our own food - why pay £7 for a box of popcorn when you can spend less than half that amount and bring in your own crisps, chocolate and drinks?

However, those of us who do sneak in our own probably do so covertly, trying to silence the rustles of our coats and tote bags, hoping not to be caught out by cinema staff.

Pixabay

But it turns out that you don't have to be doing that at all - and you never did.

A brave Twitter user put himself on the line to ask the question we've all just assumed we know the answer to.

Tagging three major cinema chains, Odeon, Vue and Cineworld, @halilmemz asked: "Am I allowed to bring my own food and drinks into the screen?"

Surprisingly, all three cinemas replied. Even more of a surprise is that they all said a resounding 'yes'.

Odeon replied: "Hi! No problem at all, we just ask that they aren't hot, too smelly or alcoholic."

While Cineworld said: "Hey Bünyamin, as long as it's not hot or strong smelling food, you're perfectly fine to bring it with you."

Vue echoed this, saying: "You sure are! You're welcome to bring your own cold food and non-alcoholic drinks into any of our venues."

So, no big bottles of vodka or strong-smelling takeaway during cinema screenings, but that goes for every public place if you're a polite, normal human, right?

People replying to Bünyamin also had their minds blown by this revelation, with one saying: "So all this time I've been doing special ops when I can just casually walk in with my snacks????"

And another said: "This changes everything." It sure does.

We'd recommend keeping the thread handy just in case you come across someone working in the cinema who's as misinformed as we all were.

Topics: Hack, Life News, Tasty Food, Tasty Drink, Money, Food And Drink, Cinema

Marianne Eloise

Marianne writes about TV, film and internet culture for Nylon, VICE, The Guardian, Vulture, Time Out and more. She was previously a staff writer at Dazed.