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CINEMAS TO TRIAL POPCORN-FREE SCREENINGS

A nationwide cinema chain is to ban popcorn from film screenings after complaints from audience members about the noise and mess it creates.

While many patrons love to snack on it, others find the smell of the sickly sugar-coated variety repulsive and the sound distracting.

Nicolas Kent, artistic director of the award-winning Tricycle cinema and theatre, puts the case in stronger terms. 'Popcorn is horrible stuff and I won't have it anywhere near my cinema,' he said. 'It's a form of junk food and that encourages junk entertainment. Its smell is all-pervasive, it makes huge amounts of mess, and it distracts and annoys people intensely.'

Now Picturehouse Cinemas, a chain of 19 across the country, is to experiment with popcorn-free screenings.

A spokesman said "Popcorn is a contentious issue. Lots of people absolutely hate it and have asked us to ban it, so we're going to do exactly that.

"If it's a success, and I've no reason to suspect it won't be, we'll roll it out across all our cinemas and make it a permanent fixture."

Daniel Broch, proprietor of the Everyman in Hampstead, north west London, has decided to go one step further by stamping it out from his 18 venues altogether, after finding too much of the stuff stamped into his carpets.

He said: "I will de-popcorn every new venue I acquire. "It has a disproportionate influence on the space in terms of its overwhelming smell, the cultural idea of it and the operational problems created by the mess it produces."

However, whether it is the end for popcorn is open to question, as both the chains serve metropolitan audiences that are likely to be slightly more snobbish about their cinema experience than most.

But will cinemas be able to survive without the sale of popcorn? It is the single most profitable product they sell and a large bag, or tub, can cost up to £4.50

Depending on its price, it can yield more than 90p on every £1 sold. It also, conveniently, makes customers thirsty for drinks, another high-margin product.

(Various sources)