James Collington’s family has been in the exhibition business since 1913. He’s a fifth generation
cinema owner and operator and it’s fair to say his family has seen and experienced the peaks and
troughs of the industry with the advent of television, Betamax and VHS across the decades. A
chartered engineer by trade, Collington runs Savoy Cinemas, six cinema sites in the middle and
north of England, after buying the flagship East Midlands Nottingham site in 1994 with his late
mum. 

Astutely spotting that purpose-built multiplexes were cropping up all around the country and that
this was the way forward for the exhibition business, a few years later they developed their first
independent multiplex in Boston, Lincolnshire. This decision was questioned by some in the wider
industry but Collington’s instinct paid off and the business has seen great success. And to add the
cherry on top, instead of the usual leasehold arrangement, the site came with its own freehold. 
The company continued in this vein in the following years, buying four more sites in English towns
Worksop, Corby, Grantham and Dorchester, with one further location currently in development.

Savoy Nottingham 

During the 40s and 50s, Nottingham was home to 52 cinemas; a fact starkly contrasted with the
Savoy now being the only one left. Collington is of the view that this is, at least in large part,
because of the cinema’s location and its proximity to the students of Nottingham University. And
that it was one of the first independents to subdivide from one into several screens, a move that
was initially experimented with by the Odeon in Nottingham, paving the way for others like the
Savoy to follow. Sadly, many other cinemas in the vicinity suffered from a lack of investment and
interest, falling by the wayside and going out of business.

The Nottingham venue - where Collington is based day-to-day - is a traditional conversion from a
1935 building. In its day it housed 1200 seats, complete with a balcony and stalls. The decision
was made to convert it into a four-screen modern venue, with the balcony becoming a 300-seater
in the shape of screen one, and the stalls becoming screens two, three and four. The challenge, as
many will be aware, is that retrofitting an older building that has not been designed specifically to
house several separate screens throws up plenty of problems of its own, namely sightlines,
acoustics, structural issues and so on. 

Boston, Worksop, Corby, Grantham and Doncaster

After purchasing a former department store in Boston in desperate need of some love, the Savoy
team, quite literally, took the roof off, gutted and cleaned the whole site out. Left with the four walls
and floor slab they increased the height of the roof and put in five brand new cinema screens. 
Worksop followed a few years later when the market square was purchased and a new six-screen
cinema was built from the ground up. Corby was added to the stable in 2015, with Grantham
following in 2019 and Doncaster, the most recent addition, in 2020. 

The common theme here, and something Collington loves about his job, is that every time a new
site is added to the Savoy’s growing empire it’s done so on the basis of the company being able to
own the land outright and start from scratch. The chartered engineer in Collington knows exactly
what he wants for each site and he isn’t interested in a leasehold agreement, with all of the Savoy
sites being freeholds. Indeed, this strong position gave the company a huge advantage when the
proverbial hit the fan during the pandemic, in terms of rental payments and landlord negotiations.

Tailoring Each Site to the Customer Demographic

The different Savoy teams get to know their customers well, regularly serving as they do smaller
market towns around England. The cinemas often play a significant central community role, often
providing the only comprehensive entertainment option in the local vicinity. Serving a wide range of
ages from kids up to senior citizens the main content shown is usually from the mainstream films
available. This can be tailored slightly - for example, horror content works well in Boston. And the
overall general size of the Savoy cinemas (in the five-to-six-screen range) works well. Collington
isn’t convinced that 12-14 screens are necessary and that a smaller number of screens can make
a more refined offering. After all, the model is working well for them so why fix it if it ain’t broke. 

The Future is Fancy F&B

As part of the need to differentiate, something the company is looking at developing is an
integrated F&B ofering to go alongside the luxury experience they currently provide with their
state-of-art seating and technology. In the 70s and 80s cinemas were known as “flea pits”,
illustrating the general experience and level of what was on offer. Whereas if you contrast that to
today’s market where premium is key, an upmarket F&B menu is practically expected by a large
segment of customers, well above and beyond the typical popcorn and soda base line. Keep your
eyes peeled to see what their menu looks like in the not-too-distant future. 

Rocking with Recliners

An area not to be overlooked when carrying out a whole or partial refurb is to ensure that the
auditorium seating is up-to-date and complementary to the rest of the work carried out. If you want
to satisfy customers right in their comfort zone then this is paramount to ensure a luxury
experience and, importantly, to further differentiate yourself from at-home entertainment options. 
In more recent years, Collington used Ferco Seating to update his venues from tilt seats to
recliners, with these seats being customised to a degree, too. In the Boston site the seats were
past their best and so, the decision was made to upgrade the seating offer as part of a larger
renovation, carried out in two parts across 2017 and 2018. Upgrading the seats, as well as
installing new acoustic panels and bigger screens, boosted the Boston business considerably. 
The effect was clear to see and so Worksop, a venue which could have technically held out for
longer on the refurbishment front, was tackled sooner rather than later. Ripping out all seats, the
auditoria were re-stepped to accommodate the larger recliners. 

To further prove the “refurb and recliner” effect, the Savoy’s Facebook pages garner lots of positive
comments and feedback from customers, as well as follower numbers in the 10k region in towns
of, roughly, 30-40k inhabitants. A nice touch added to the Facebook page, when relevant, is a time
lapse video showing the journey from before to after the refurbishments. Filmed over a couple of
weeks in real time, the videos are a few minutes long and detail everything from the ripping out of
the auditoria to the new stadium being built, and all the finishing touches being added, including
the lighting. The feedback from these videos is, in one word from Collington, “fantastic”. 

And so, with a further sixth site in development and other ongoing negotiations, the Savoy brand is
going from strength to strength. Bridging the gap between independent single screens and cookie
cutter multiplex cinemas, the company’s approach and Collington’s business instinct demonstrate
that people are often really keen for and loyal to a community entertainment venue that offers a
touch of luxury.

Byline: Helen Budge