There are a couple of things I love about this cinema.

As the cinema web site itself says, the Renoir in the Brunswick Centre is “the first choice for any true art-house fan”. Eschewing most Hollywood blockbusters, it “has a firm reputation as the home for films from established auteurs and new world cinema talent.” It’s a shame that generally only larger cities can keep a cinema like this afloat, but I can’t imagine most of the films they show here ever being given an airing in a cinema in my home neighbourhood. They would bomb, with perhaps a handful of paying customers per screening, if that!

And I love the fact that at a time when most cinemas have switched to using much more hi-tech ways of displaying what’s currently showing, the Renoir still uses those push-on letters that don’t quite line up, and sometimes fall off altogether. It really adds to the message that this is NOT a big-name multiplex that’s only interested in the latest Hollywood blockbusters.

But as much as I love it, I do have a confession.

I haven’t been inside for years. Not since I was a student in London back in the early 1980s.

But I’m still glad it’s here!