Happiness is......

....a pub with a cinema screen in it.

Happiness is also the Sunday 1 April lineup of Stand By Me, the Goonies and the Lost Boys. Mmm, 1980s goodness.

I don't know who came up with the idea of the Roxy, but I love them. I've been once before, to see Don't Look Now which is one of my favourite films of all time (having been introduced to it at an early age by my dad, who fancied the pants off Julie Christie and was quite happy to uproot his 8 year old daughter's watching of the Sound of Music in order to emotionally scar her with scenes of rampant shagging and really scary dwarves). I went with K, who HATES this film with a passion, but wanted to see if perhaps watching it while getting quietly spannered would improve matters. We also took S, who had never seen it and would be able to tell us who was right in terms of the film being excellent or rubbish. I fully intended to blog about this at the time actually, but I had to work late, or my glasses broke or something, and I never got around to it.

It's a great place, with a huge back room full of tables and sofas which is where the screen is; with this room separated from the bar area (which also has seats and sofas for those who just want to have a drink and not watch the film. Drinks are normal London prices (about £12 for a bottle of decent red, and £3 a pint) but food is a fantastic bargain. I had a chicken sandwich off the all-day menu and thought I'd never need to eat again - and all for £4.50 too.

Less good is the fact that when we went we were right next to a table of people who were all exceeding pleased with themselves and celebrating this fact with some post-work drinks. I am all up for noisy chatterboxery, but why did they feel the need to hold this evening of fun in the cinema bit when not one of them was even remotely interested in the film? (Apart from the sex scene, whereupon they all went very quiet as if they were being forced to watch it in the same room as their parents. I'm sure I heard one of them hiss "Look! Tits!" to his mate, whose ears then went red.) What annoyed me was that they a) had the comfiest seats in the room, and b) there was an entire other section of the bar in which to sit and talk if you weren't going to watch the film. Being English, of course I wasn't going to go over and ask them to be quiet with a wagging finger, so I just huffed and puffed and gave them cross looks for the best part of an hour before another table away from them became free and we could move. Well, honestly.

So, a good night out guaranteed at the Roxy. Unless of course you are K, who still hated Don't Look Now after another viewing, or S, who had never seen it before and loathed every second of it. No taste, some people.