A night at the movies with a luxurious twist

Odeon Whiteleys will now include five boutique screens, each with reclining leather seats and holding no more than 50 people. Tickets cost up to £18 each - double the usual price of a trip to the movies.

What's more, chef Rowley Leigh, who runs the swish Le Café Anglais restaurant in Whiteleys, has been brought in to supervise the food, which will be available at your seat. Cinemagoers can just touch a button to alert restaurant-trained staff to take their order from a "finger, fork and spoon" menu. Dishes include tuna sushi, fried squid and venison chilli.

Odeon boss Rupert Gavin is particularly proud of the "in-cinema tables which incorporate a layer of rubber in their design, to ensure that the dishes don't make a sound when they are placed down".

Gavin says he hopes to develop the model - a mixture of small and big screens - "for many more Odeon sites across the UK in the coming years".

London is enjoying a boom in boutique cinemas. A wave of new sites has been opening across the capital from the independently owned Hackney Picturehouse and The Lexi in Kensal Rise to the HMV Curzon in Wimbledon, a joint venture between the music and art-house cinema chains.

A new Everyman which opened in Maida Vale in November is a good example. All the seating is sofas. Tickets are £14 each while a "three-seater" berth - suitably roomy for a couple - costs £37.50 and there is bar food such as freshly cooked pizzas for £4.50.

Tickets might be expensive, but a growing number of filmgoers feel that's cheap compared with a top West End stage show. Andrew Myers, chief executive of the Everyman Group, says it's about offering a personalised, grown-up experience: "We're focused on creating quality environments where people can relax and have a great night out. The multiplexes are not so close to their communities as we tend to be."

Sally Wilton, founder of The Lexi, agrees: "People want to be treated like individuals. You don't want your popcorn thrust at you in a nasty box."

The big chains are recognising this too. Steve Wiener, boss of Cineworld, opened a test site in Cheltenham last year, with a licensed bar selling elderflower cordial and Italian olives and tickets costing up to £15. Wiener says: "Now we've brought in extra people to find new locations in London. The trend is going to grow."

There are many other examples of cinemas offering drink and food in a luxury setting. They range from the acclaimed Rex cinema in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, which has tables and chairs in its lovingly restored Art Deco auditorium, to One Aldwych Hotel in the heart of London, which offers a meal and movie in its in-house cinema for £42.50 a head on Fridays and Saturdays.

It seems that in the internet age, we crave a live, communal experience more than ever. And if it comes with a glass of champagne and tuna sushi, so much the better.