The cheapest and most expensive places to buy your cinema tickets

Research finds the Welsh capital is the cheapest place to buy a cinema ticket. Here's a round-up of the cheapest and most expensive cinemas.

Some people will have to pay as much as £12 more for the same ticket, making a trip to the cinema four times more expensive depending on where you live. 

The cost of a standard 2D ticket in Vue, Odeon and Cineworld chains was compared by money-saving website Voucherbox.co.uk at the same screening time in nine different UK cities.

The research was centred around the cost of seeing the upcoming blockbuster X-Men: Apocalypse in its opening week and found huge price differences across the country and even within the same chain.

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The cheapest and most expensive cinemas

An adult ticket at Vue Cardiff Stadium Plaza will only cost you £4, making it the cheapest on the list; but London’s sister cinema in Leicester Square would set you back a painful £15.99 – almost 300% more for the same film.

The most expensive place outside of London to buy an adult ticket is Manchester, which costs £12 - three times more than the Welsh capital.

Of the three big chains, Vue had the biggest disparity between the cheapest and most expensive cinemas (300%), followed by Odeon (127%). Cineworld appears to be the best value cinema for its customers, with only a 42% difference between the cheapest cinema in Birmingham (£9.60) and its most expensive cinema in London (£13.60).

Student, child or senior deals and offers can help cinema goers with tickets in some locations, but some have no discounts at all.

In fact, tickets for the already cheap Vue in Cardiff are all equally priced, regardless of the type of ticket, whilst student tickets at Cineworld in Cardiff are 62% cheaper than an adult ticket.  

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Chains in the same location

Depending on which chain you choose to go to, an adult ticket within Bristol can see a 63% increase and a 61% rise in Edinburgh, but the seemingly cheap Cardiff can see a whopping increase of 143%.

In the capital, a five-minute walk from Leicester Square to Covent Garden you see your ticket price increase by 39%.

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Family savings

With family ticket offers there are savings to be made, but again this can vary drastically in the same location.

The family ticket at Vue Leicester Square will save you £6.40, but in comparison, the Odeon Leicester Square ticket can save you £17. That makes a £23.16 cost difference between the two cinemas in the same location.

Shane Forster, Voucherbox.co.uk UK Country Manager said: “The cinema is no longer regarded as a cheap evening out. Whilst some variation in costs across the UK is to be expected, consumers don’t expect a 300% increase – this is not comparative to the cost of living. 

“The key is to check before you head out of the door, and see if there are any deals by purchasing tickets beforehand online, bearing in mind booking fees and additional expense when you arrive, such as snacks, 3D viewings and seat upgrades.”  

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