We have lived in the Heatons for nearly a year but not quite made it to the Savoy Cinema until today. Normally their "grown up" shows start at 8 which is a touch on the late side for our domestic schedules and we have always ended up down at the Didsbury multiplex. For once however the Sunday matinée of Spider Man 3 sounded like it would tickle the right bones so we stashed Laurel with her ever-willing grandmother and bobbed back round the corner into Heaton Moor.

The cinema is truly something to behold. The lobby is decked out in suitably stripey wallpaper, the box office has one of those old Automaticket machines and a sweet counter with a very retro cash register. There was also a very splendid old poster from 1938 up in a wrong-size frame.

The treats continued through into the auditorium with very comfortable furry orange seating, a nice rake and a very pleasing symmetrical layout. It probably seats a few hundred. Scattered around the auditorium about thirty kids and a few of their parents settled themselves in, wriggled around a bit, chattered and then were ushered to the toilet in relays. This of course continued throughout the film. All in all it was a very pleasant atmosphere - relaxed, safe and gimmick-free. It very much brought back memories of both our childhoods being allowed to go to similar cinema without adult supervision (I remember Wayne's World) and re-assured us that such things are still possible. I would be much more comfortable with Laurel going somewhere like this at the age of say 10 rather than some enormous impersonal multiplex. Let's just hope that the Savoy and others like it survive that long as it would be a real shame to lose the last remaining jewels in our local communities.