You remember those adverts, the ones at the cinema where they told you about the local (insert food type here) restaurant, and its close proximity to where you were sitting? Well, imagine a place with 2 big screens, a bar with small screens AND it sells food and shows great films and you pretty much have FLIX Movie Cafe in Hartlepool.

Ok, this might be a slight exaggeration-no balti experience for one-but for those of us who love movies and can handle a sizeable burger/pizza whilst watching a pre-determined movie, this is pretty much nirvana. The admirable concept behind FLIX is to satisfy the movie lovers amongst us, spending time with like minded people, with a beer and a burger in a relaxed, comfortable atmosphere (one fellow patron was asleep at the end of the movie such is the comfort!).  Each month a menu of movies is served up-check out their facebook page for details-and the aim is to give everybody a taste of the type of movie they love. Sci-fi themed days, chick flick nights, recent(ish) releases and a quiz night to boot. I attended the latest quiz night having lost the previous weeks – pride needed to be restored after all. The other fun part of the quiz evening is being offered a movie for free to follow. Each team are given a choice of 4 movies to vote from, and after the quiz is over, the most popular is shown. The screens themselves are a very decent size with sound quality to match. A particularly nice touch this week was a choice of Patrick Swayze movies-it being the anniversary of his passing. Thankfully, there were enough guys in the place to avoid a Dirty Dancing showing, Point Break winning out…….

The staff were friendly, people who genuinely seemed pleased to be working there-a rarity these days. Film related decor, DVD’s stored behind the bar, knowledgeable people to bounce ideas off, you  really get a sense that a lot of thought has gone into the whole process. So if you love your movies, love a drink or 2, and love a bite to eat(the reservoir dogs are very nice!) a trip to FLIX is really worthwhile.

Oh and in case you were wondering, a one point victory tastes so sweet…….. A gauntlet to you all to come on a Tuesday evening and see how you fare against “Strike Team”. A free  movie to boot!

FLIX Movie Cafe is situated in Church Square, Hartlepool.

Steve Waites

By Steve on September 19, 2010