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Postman thrown out of cinema for buying his own (much cheaper) sweets elsewhere
Last updated at 00:07am on 20.02.08Preparing for a visit to the movies, Adam Glennon sensibly decided to stock up with his own supply of snacks rather than pay exorbitant cinema prices.
But after buying a ticket to watch the sci-fi thriller Cloverfield, Mr Glennon was approached in the foyer by a security guard demanding to know what was in his plastic bag.
When he searched it and found sweets, drinks and cola inside, the guard ordered Mr Glennon to hand over the bag and its contents.
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Outraged: Adam Glennon was not allowed into the cinema in Stockport, Cheshire because he had bought his sweets from somewhere else
He refused and was then told he would not be allowed in to see the film with food bought elsewhere. So he had to leave.
Outraged at his treatment at Cineworld in Stockport, Mr Glennon, a 26-year-old postman, held a one-man protest outside the cinema, giving away free sweets and his own price-comparison leaflets.
Recalling the encounter with the guard, he said: "He was searching like he was a copper looking for a gun. I was going blood red because I couldn't believe it.
"I've always taken in food and I've never had a problem. Money is tight at the moment and I begrudge paying the prices they charge."
Mr Glennon bought his snacks from a discount store near the cinema with his friend Darren Hadfield.
He paid £5 to get eight packs of M&Ms, a multi-pack of crisps, a mixture of sweets and two bottles of cherry cola.
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One-man protest: Adam Glennon hands out free sweets and price comparison leaflets
If he had bought them at the cinema, two tubes of Pringles alone would have set him back £4.80 and he'd have paid £6.10 for two large drinks.
Cineworld sells large packs of M&Ms - at £2.60 a pack.
Cineworld said it searches bags in case recording equipment is being smuggled in and, if food is discovered, will enforce its no-food policy.
Spokesman Luke Roberts said: "Cineworld terms and conditions outline that all food consumed on the premises must be purchased at one of our concessions, which is in line with most cinema chain policies.
"We do offer a full refund if a customer chooses to leave."
While Mr Glennon did receive a refund, he remains furious at the cinema's policy.
"I will be making my opinions heard because the prices they charge are not fair and the ban is pathetic," he said.
An employee at the Sweet Sensation confectionery shop, opposite Cineworld, says the cinema's crackdown started this month.
"We've had people coming in and buying sweets to take in, they've been refused and come back asking for their money back but we can't give refunds on sweets," she said.
Reader views (31)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
I work for a cinema, and believe me I know the prices are a rip off, I'm not going to lie and say they're not, because of course they are. I love how many customers I get a day moaning about the high prices, yet they are stuffing a large popcorn and a large coke into their greedy 5 year old's hands. I mean come on...prices in cinemas have always been high, and guess what, you all still keep coming and paying. It's a business at the end of the day, as well as a licensed premises. You wouldn't expect to walk into a pub with your own bottle of booze and sit and drink it, you'd be booted out! Apply that to the cinema, it is a licensed premises meaning yes we can refuse people taking their own stuff in. To be honest I don't really care what people do, I understand that people have money problems and can't afford the prices, but am sick of the sight of people bringing massive bagfuls of food in for an hour and half film. If it weren't so blatant I wouldn't mind, but it's becoming worse and there is simply no need for that much food and bags clogging up the aisles because guess what, most of the offenders leave it all on the ground afterwards, their children having near enough thrown it everywhere. I don't really want to enforce the rule because to be honest, I don't get paid enough for all the aggro.
- Susan, scotland
If I was there I'd be outside with Adam, the prices are ridiculous even from a business perspective. Don't bite the hand that gives you money or people won't want to come back.
By increasing the price (actually...were the prices ever low?) they are drastically decreasing sales. There would be no need to increase ticket prices to decrease food prices.
Chains are abusing their position, people can't go to a different cinema because all of them follow each other on high prices. They should franchise out the sweet sales to someone with business sense.
- Graeme Evans, Moreton
Due to exorbitant movie prices, I never even pay for a ticket -- let alone snacks! When you're an OAP like me, no one ever expects you to sneak into a theatre without paying. They're always looking for the youngsters, so when someone with grey hair and a limp scoots past the minimum-wage-slave usher without handing over a ticket, all it takes is a comment like, "Oh, I just went back for my glasses" -- assuming they even look up long enough to notice. Like they care, anyway. It's not as if they're receiving a commission on every ticket sold. If movie studios didn't pay their stars $4-plus million a picture, then the theatres wouldn't have to charge $10 for a movie. It's been YEARS since I bought a movie ticket, and that's in New York City, where everyone's always on the lookout for a scofflaw.
- Chaz, Forest Hills, New York
No wonder more people are downloading films from the internet when they treat much needed customers like this.
- Nick, London
Why is it that no one can sit through a maximum of two hours without stuffing their face with junk? It's the same at football - everyone complains about the price of rubbish pie and chips at Wembley ... why not try eating either before or after going (or both if you must?)
- Paul, London
Phil Jones - No it wouldn't.
- Tomc, London
Good for him. It's a complete rip off to buy something to eat at the cinema. The fizzy drinks usually taste awful too as they are from that "soda stream" effort that mixes the drink together. Sell sweets/drinks at reasonable prices and maybe people would stop doing this. Bottled water at £1.90 - what a joke. Would they offer tap water as an alternative? I doubt it.
- Angela Walker, Barnet, England
The sweets available at cinemas are an absolute rip off, especially as customers have already paid more than enough for the tickets. We never buy sweets at the cinema but generally take a bar of chocolate or small bag of sweets with us. If our local cinema starts searching people then we just won't go, so they'll lose the ticket money as well.
- Ann, London
I don't often go to the cinema any more because I find them such unpleasant places (I'd rather watch a film somewhere quiet and comfortable) but on the odd occasion I do go I take food and drink in with me, simply because of the times. Unless I want to see a late film (not really - finishes after the last bus goes) I don't have time for dinner. Get home from work, grab bottle of water, fruit and sandwich, go to cinema. The cinemas don't sell anything that could even remotely be considered a dinner substitute so it seems fair to me, though I have to admit I always make sure my dinner is discreetly at the bottom of my enormous handbag and I'm grateful to avoid the prices.
- Suzanne, London
Cinemas actually make very little from ticket sales and rely upon the over-inflated refreshment prices to stay in business. Perhaps you would prefer to see admission prices rise by 50% to enable them the lower sweetie prices. Personally I would rather go without the sweets and have a meal after the film.
- Jane, London
I often wonder why hungry people go to the cinema to eat, I find I enjoy the film far more if I can hear the soundtrack above the munching and slurping.
- Mike Melbourne, Bedford England
I am appalled as my sister and her two children had a similar experience. Young families cannot afford the ridiculous prices these entertainment venues charge. I applaud Adam Glennon for his actions. Well done!
- Lisa, Northumberland Heath, Kent
There are no rules or laws saying you can not bring your own sweets into the cinema. You pay for a ticket to watch a movie, not to be forced to buy over priced sweets and drinks.
- Brandon Thomas, London UK
Cinemas hardly make any money from ticket sales; practically all their profit is from selling the public overpriced junk food.
Can't people sit and watch a film for a couple of hours without stuffing themselves with popcorn, sweets and fizzy sugar water?
- Tim, London
I take in water all the time at the movies! Why pay £1.20 for a bottle of water when I can buy a 6 pack for the same price. I understand they need to make their money but just buying a cinema ticket is now close to £10 in London... going to the cinema is expensive. At my local Cineworld in Bexleyheath I am paying nearly £8.00 to see a movie. I have been known to take in MacDonalds, my own sweets and even a Picnic once. Maybe I look innocent as I have never had my bags checked... but I would leave the movies too and make a fuss if they ever discovered my stash.
- Cj, London, UK
I've had the same experience once. Taking the family to the cinema can be costly, so we took our own drinks and sweets.
We were not allowed in unless we purchased food and drinks from them. At twice the price of course.
Pure greed... surely this is in breech of our human rights...( sorry couldn't resist adding that.) Needless to say we don't go to the cinema as much as we used to.
- Malc, London,England
Cinemas have quietly been getting away with this rip-off for ages, and it's absolutely obscene. I can only imagine how much it must cost a family of four to 'enjoy' a film together.
- Sacha Brady, London
Deprive these meanies of your money. Wait until the DVD of the film comes out and rent it from your local DVD hire shop.
- Martin Philip, London U.K.
What is the point of going to the cinema anymore? You have to put up with rip off prices, uncomfortable seats and noisy people who talk and eat like they haven't had any food for months.
- James, London
I started smuggling drinks in after the "Pepsi" that two different chains sold me consistently tasted watered down and fake. Why should I pay three times as much for something that is not the "real thing" (and yes, I know that's coke).
Pepsi would have been appalled if they'd known such garbage was being sold under their name.
- Richard, Reading
Seems reasonable to me, they try to rip people off with their prices and as such you have every right to bring your own. The only problem I've ever had was someone behind me with a large bag of sweets in wrappers who seemed to have an inability to unwrap and eat the sweets without making an unfeasible amount of noise.
- Phil Menaked, Morden
It'll be interesting to see if this is legally challenged, and the outcome.
- Phil Jones, London UK
Our local CineWorld has enforced this policy for quite some while. It's nothing but a rip-off. You can smuggle sweets in your pockets but why should you have to - and my understanding is that if you are seen eating smuggled goods during the film they can eject you!
No surprise that for the majority of films we wait for the DVD to come out and then watch it in the comfort of our own home - without the endless sound of rustling popcorn!
- Dweezle, Crawley, UK
Yes, and what's the point? It's their property and they can allow who and what they want into their cinema.
Why do people need sweets in the cinema (or theatre) anyway? Why can't people just sit and watch a film without the constant need to stuff their faces? I mean, it's not as if Cloverfield was a three hour epic anyway.
- Md, London
Since when did a cinema become a restaurant? If their prices were more reasonable, they wouldn't have to do this! Rip off Britain again...
- Gary Parker, Amersham
I always smuggle my own sweets and popcorn into the cinema - the prices are crazy.
- Jo, Canvey Island
Good on him. Great rip of Britain strikes again.
- Frank, Home Counties, England.
Congratulations Mr Glennon for standing your ground - and what a great response. I refuse to pay their exhorbitent prices and always take my own. If they made me buy their food and drink I would just go somewhere else or get a DVD at home. Their markup on prices is outrageous!
- Ruth, Warwick, Warwickshire
What a disgusting amount of sweet food.
- Smedley Smythe, London
If the sweets suppliers could be persuaded not to sell their merchandise to the cinemas, the extortionist concessions would close; the sales in sweet shops around the theatres would go up as punters would be prepared to pay the more reasonable costs of confectionaries from them and, consequently, buy more.
Of course the result of this would be more obese kids and the extra cost to the health services. Maybe I'll open a health food shop near a cinema!
- Nick, London
The cinema prices may be rip-offs, but unless he's been living in a cave throughout his life he should know that what he tried to do was not acceptable in ANY cinema - they're in business to make money. The guy tried to get away with it and failed. Tough luck. Stop whinging.
- Rogan, DFW Texas
