Situated next to Europa swimming pools, and near Conway Park train station, the Birkenhead Vue cinema is in a good location, being only a short walk to the town centre and the bus station.
Depending on what entrance you come in from, blind/Visually impaired may find it tricky, as:
Coming from the town centre, on the pavement outside, there are a few stone benches to negotiate. Blind/visually impaired film fans need to be careful here as they are the same/similar colour to the paving tiles, as well as being quite bulky.
If you park in the car park, the disabled bays are opposite the door.
As it has no distinguishing features, the entrance is hard to find, and from the outside, the cinema actually appears closed. There's a large square shaped silver button left of the disabled entrance door, so it opens automatically. Inside either side of it, there are 2 handrails to guide you along to the next press button door.
The cinema foyer is a wide, circular, low lit space. Pre-covid, it had couches to chat and catch up with friends. These are gone now. The tills where the drinks, popcorn and snacks area is at the far end.
The staff couldn't be more helpful.
The woman noticed my blind cane and said, ' do you want the headphones?'
I was gobsmacked. Such awareness has never happened before! She then asked her manager to check they worked with the film. She said, after 5 years of working there, I was the first customer to need them. The Vue Birkenhead only has 2 audio description screens, because it's such a small cinema, head office won't fund it.
The screen numbers are giant and well-contrasted with the dark decor.
This particular branch of Vue only has 2 a.d enabled screens. This is the only disappointing thing about the Vue . We were in screen 5. The film, Free Guy was a few minutes in as the staff tried to get the headphones to work. Even I could hear the white noise crackling loudly from 2 or 3 feet away. This was the 3rd set they tried, so we all knew that after exhausting all the headphone sets, this film wasn't a.d enabled. Now, it was decision time: do I stay and watch with my mum describing it or leave it and try somewhere else? it was the last day the film was showing, so I decided to stay. The wheelchair spaces in the screen where about 4 or 5 rows from the front with space for a companion at either end.
The Vue kindly refunded us and gave my mum a complementary coffee, which was nice.
My mum did well describing the on-screen action. I explained it was set within a video game world as she seemed confused by the fact that characters were unconcerned by the violence going on behind them.
On the way out, I checked out the disabled toilet. It's in the same area as the screens, so not near to the others in the foyer. It was big enough, not much turning space and not a changing table in the bathroom. A positive it had dark floor and shiny dark tiles going just above the height of the one white handrail, so I being v.i, could see it.
The film was really good, an action-packed comedy with a dash of romance thrown in. Set between 2 worlds - virtual and real-life, this film was a fun distraction from the stresses of life.
The customer service here was brilliant. Helpful staff who were observant of needs and made what could've been an awkward experience with the headphones, much more comfortable.
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