Best cinemas in the UK and Ireland

The regulars at Premiere don’t come with a tonne of expectations – ‘Snacks are very cheap, staff are friendly and the film plays,’ notes one TripAdvisor review – and sure, the frills are limited, at least relative to the shinier end of the multiplex spectrum. But then, the most expensive tickets to the latest movies come to an eye-watering... £4 (four pounds). Premiere’s Cardiff and Romford multiplexes also offer a family ticket for £14, allowing you to get four family members into a brand new movie without needing to sell a single body part. And if all that doesn’t woo you, there’s frosty Tango Ice Blasts on tap too. Phil de Semlyen

This art-house kino in east London’s Shoreditch, that was founded in 2005 with the aim of making film culture and history more accessible, is a place of pilgrimage for film buffs. As well as a 40-seater cinema programmed with classic films that have shaped the history of the art form, it also houses an independent coffee shop, the long-running and prestigious film journal Vertigo and a massive library of more than 20,000 books and titles, from early films and classics to world cinema, experimental pieces and video art. Rosie Hewitson

Aberdeen’s sole indie cinema (there are two Cineworlds and a Vue), this three-screen local hero has a proud curation policy: anything and everything goes, basically. You might catch the latest A24 release, or Casablanca, or an Antonioni, or a Ghibli at a Filmhouse Junior screening – or even a microbudget effort from a local filmmaker. Like its sister cinema, Edinburgh’s Filmhouse, it’s been run by Scotland’s cinema charity Centre for the Moving Image since 2014. Barring a period when it was used as a warehouse, films have been screening there since 1898 – these days you can catch them from as little as a fiver. Phil de Semlyen

A minute’s stroll from Di**le harbour in Ireland’s County Kerry, the Phoenix is the most westerly cinema in the British Isles – and possibly its most friendly. It’s the kind of place where you’ll get a warm welcome on the way in and a thank you on the way out. Tuesday night’s ‘Art Film’ club screenings come with free tea and biscuits. You can tell it’s run by a family, albeit a family of film nuts who charge €8.50 for an evening screening but would probably let everyone in for free if it was remotely viable. And the 150 seats in its single screen are so comfy it’s no wonder film-loving locals are always here in numbers. Phil de Semlyen

Housed above a ridiculously posh supermarket that sells too many varieties of olive oil, this bijou local cinema, opened in 2016, might not have the biggest screens around, but as the saying goes: size isn’t everything. It feels like an extension of your living room, comfortable and inviting red armchairs offering up velvet loveliness for your trip to the pictures. Even when it’s packed it feels intimate. The bar is lush, too, its mood lighting, wooden flooring, luxe seating and art-deco decal transporting you from east London to the Golden Era of Hollywood. Alim Kheraj

Can a cinema be any more picturesque? The available scientific metrics – our eyeballs, admittedly – say no. Quirky and characterful, this old converted Methodist chapel in the coastal village of Lynton in Devon feels a bit like a time capsule, taking you back to a time of Pathé newsreels, Ealing comedies and the once-romantic fug of cigarette smoke hanging over the stalls. Not that you’ll find any of those things these days. Instead, you’ll be pulled out of the reverie by the Dolby sound and modernised interior, with a 68-seat screen showing the latest releases to movie-hungry locals and holidayers. If you’re ever in the area, proprietor Bill Pryor promises the warmest of welcomes. Phil de Semlyen