What's going on at Cineworld?
I've been a regular Cineworld customer for several years now, an Unlimited cardholder for about half of that time, and a shareholder for three years, but I'm beginning to lose all of that love for the chain. Why, I hear you ask? Two words: Allocated Seating.
There's never been any issue with seating at the Swindon site; most of the screens are big enough to accommodate everyone, and only the first night of big blockbuster shows such as Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings have ever needed allocated seating. So, why, when turning up to the Saturday, 12.30 showing of "The Fault In Our Stars", am I asked "Front, Middle or Back"? It's an unnecessary stream of red tape that I don't want to have to deal with, and it doesn't give me the opportunity to pick the seat three rows from the back, on the right hand side on the aisle, or K22 as it's better known. To get that level of granularity, you need to book online.
The benefit of being an Unlimited card holder is the impulse view, the ability to just "rock up" to the cinema, get a ticket and watch a film without the hassle of online booking. It seems that to achieve the comfort I'm used to, I'll need to carry my laptop and "Three dongle" around, just in case I have the urge to watch a film, probably sitting in the foyer booking the ticket before waltzing up to counter to collect it. It's positively absurd.
Aspen House - A Slow Demise
For all those hoping for the pizazz and flamboyance of an implosive demolition, I'm afraid you're going to need disguise your bitter disappointment for the news I'm about to deliver. Aspen House will be removed from the Swindon skyline floor by floor. Much like an elderly relative sitting in God's waiting room waiting for the inevitable, the building will linger on as demolition crews hoist heavy machinery to the roof and erase this blot on the landscape piece by piece until they reach the third floor.
Regent Circus - Some thoughts...
I'm not one to lift images from the web, but I have borrowed the above from the PDF brochure available on the Regent Cirus website to show what the development should look like once it's finished.
There's no doubt in anyone's mind that the former Swindon College site at the end of Regent Circus was in poor shape when the college moved out in 2005 and it being left derelict, much like Aspen House which became vacant at around the same time certainly has left its mark at the 'top-end' of new town, not only aesthetically, but also economically. Ashfield Land purchased the Regent Circus site in 2006 and now the former eyesore is starting to morph into a clean and modern structure.
Aspen to be felled
Aspen House is an office block located on Temple Street in Swindon, Wiltshire. While I feel a bit of an attachment for it, the building has been left unoccupied for about eight years now after Heath Lambert left it for Focal Point.
Killer Pill?
As a resident of Swindon for the past 13 or so years, I've had an on/off relationship with my subscription to the local newspaper, the Swindon Advertiser. The paper has, in my opinion, a natural tendency to sensationalise the most inane snippets of 'news' and occasionally goes randonly off at a tangent to give some of the more 'interesting' residents of the town a soapbox. One I'd rather they not be given.