Going to the cinema can be a stressful and overly-democratised experience these days; the queues, the crowds, not to mention the chatter and distracting luminous spotlights of iPhone glow in the theatre. Oh how I reverently recall times passed in Los Angeles, watching films in private screening rooms at the Directors Guild or better yet at some social Hollywood producer’s estate in the hills.
Thanks to a new series at One Aldwych in Covent Garden, gone are the days of the popcorn proletariate. The 5-star hotel’s ‘Martini Movies’ offers discriminating cinephiles a package deal: a Grey Goose Martini or Grey Goose Le Fizz cocktail, a film screening in a 30-seat capacity intimate downstairs setting, and finally a three-course dinner at Axis and Indigo restaurants (total cost: £42.50). The latter might include creative dishes like Blood orange, watercress and Lincolnshire Poacher salad; and braised halibut in pink grapefruit and Champagne with fettuccine of brown shrimp and fennel, blood orange and bitter leaf salad.
“It’s a great date night in luxury surroundings,” explains Howard Rombough, the hotel’s Public Relations Director. “We try to have the most recent films possible. I don’t mean slasher or teen comedies,” he jokes. Some of those carefully selected works include quirky, popular crowd-pleasers like Midnight in Paris, My Week With Marilyn, and The Artist.
If the aforementioned featured oeuvres harken back to the glamorous days of yesteryear it’s perhaps no accident. Built in 1907, the building that houses One Aldwych was once the headquarters of The Morning Post newspaper. The chic and airy Lobby Bar and its general environs were previously the paper’s advert-purchasing area. Something of that heritage charm remains in the bones of the structure which was said to meld Edwardian grandeur, Parisian elegance and a modern interpretation of Louis XIV.
These days, the après-work crowd with which you might expect to cavort on any given Thursday or Friday (when Martini Movies takes place) consists of gents in three-piece suits–many of them solicitors and barristers from local firms–and ladies with a penchant for vintage style and glamour. You’ll find a zealous barman, busy mixing up cocktails like the signature One Negrini (dry Vermouth, Camparni, No3 London Gin, organic strawberry jam and exotic spices).
Saunter downstairs, cocktail in-hand, to the screening room where the grand cinematic presentation awaits. Get whisked away into the world of the big- and smaller- screen. It almost feels as though you could be enjoying the spectacle in Cecil B. DeMille’s very own private screening room. Now, get ready for your close-up!
For more information about forthcoming screenings, visit the website.
