Anthony Davis: Here you are now in Cambridge, it’s week two is it?
John Farrugia: Yes, it was the end of January so we’re in week two of being the Light.
AJD: Presumably you’ve asked people what they think – how’s that going?
JF: We’ve had some very positive feedback from people with regards to the extra level of customer service that we’ve provided in the foyer as part of the handover, to let everyone know we’re here and this is what we do. We have somebody who greets customers in the foyer – hopefully that happened to you as you walked in?
AJD: Yes!
JF: We are also opening doors for them, and we’ll be introducing personal announcements as well, so we’ll have someone go into the screen and say, “Welcome to the Light Cinemas, tonight’s performance will be FIFTY SHADES OF GREY, please turn off your mobile phones and be aware that this is a no-smoking cinema. We very much hope that you enjoy the show.”
AJD: So that will be before all the ads and the trailers?
JF: Before anything comes on. We haven’t implemented it yet, but it’s still very much early days. We’re concentrating on improving service out in the foyer, and then working our way into the screens.
AJD: So is that something you do in Wisbech and Nottingham?
JF: Yes, and New Brighton and Liverpool.It’s part of our offer that’s a little bit different to the standard multiplex chain where you might feel a little rushed through. We like to take our time: when it’s busy we have a meet-and-greeter in the foyer. If there’s one big queue, we’ll split the queue because there are five or six tills open. And we’ve got the ATM machines that we’ll direct them to – unfortunately they’re not up and running at the moment, but it’s just a matter of installing all the software. It’s been OK, [the transition has] been a lot smoother than I thought. I was the general manager when it was Cineworld, so I was here just as the site was closing and the Light was taking over.
AJD: And how did you get the news out about the takeover?
JF: We had the [Cambridge Evening News] come down on the Friday morning – the takeover day.
AJD: But they were tweeting a couple of days before, because people could see the signage was being changed.
JF: Yeah, obviously at that point there was no official announcement, we weren’t allowed to say anything for legal reasons. But as soon as that was lifted, we tried to shout from the clifftops: “We are the Light, we haven’t closed down, come and try us out!”. We went on local radio as well, did an interview [with Bums On Seats for Cambridge 105] on Friday morning and tried to make people aware on social media.
“We want to be known as more of a community cinema than a big blockbuster.”
AJD: You say you have a different style – what about the actual screens, are you going to revamp those?
JF: There will be a phased process where the company does want to refurbish. To what extent I don’t know yet.
AJD: Would it be more in line with your other European cinemas?
JF: It would. We have another Light cinema in Halle, Germany, and obviously we have the three now in the UK. If you go to New Brighton or Wisbech and you see how it’s laid out, that’s exactly what we want to do here. The difference between us and Cineworld is that if you go to Wisbech, you walk in, you’ve got personalised art on the walls commissioned from individuals, of classic actors et cetera; you’ve got what’s called a Green Room which is essentially a pub, and it’s a completely different feel. The colours are a lot more subtle and it’s the staff making more of a personal journey for the customers. We want to be known as more of a community cinema than a big blockbuster. We want to be involved with the local community and the market. Unlike Cineworld, we are trying to do what’s called Silver Screens on a Monday.
AJD: That will be competing with the Picturehouse Silver Screen on a Thursday.
JF: Yes, that’s something we do want to do here, and show not necessarily old films but…
AJD: Repertory films?
JF: Yes, films that are a couple of years old that we can show at a much cheaper price.
AJD: Because you can get the Blu-Ray or whatever?
JF: Yes. We also want to do Fright Night which will be on a Friday night, a late showing of a classic horror film. Bringing advertising to the students and the younger audience. We’ll pour our heart and soul into these different events.
AJD: We’re sitting in the green room now – there hasn’t been alcoholic licensing here before.
JF: At the moment we have a license for the bar area, for the consumption of alcohol. Whether we take it into the screens is something we will look at – watch this space.
AJD: And you’re going to honour the Cineworld Unlimited card for three months.
JF: We are!
AJD: And are you going to offer something similar after that?
JF: Watch this space!
AJD: Indeed! [Both laugh] We’ve talked about Cineworld but we’ve also got the Vue and the Picturehouse. How are you going to place yourself in relation to them, and offer a different film experience in terms of what you show?
JF: We’re still going to be showing blockbusters but we do want to show alternative content such as live opera. We also want to do foreign films. It could be Bollywood, it could be Polish… what’s interesting is that you can get hold of what’s called a “borough profile”, and it tells you the demographics of every ethnicity. So there are populations who might like to see a Hollywood movie dubbed in their own language. And that, coupled with things like Fright Night and Silver Screen, something for the students as well, we’ll bring something a little bit different. We’re just in week two, so it’s very early days. We have a lot of irons in the fire.
AJD: You talk about pop concerts in your mission statement.
JF: Yes, it’s easy for us to do live streaming, so these are all areas we want to look into. We’ve got the satellite facilities to accommodate it along with opera, ballet, sporting events – all these things are worth it if they have an audience.
AJD: Is there anything else you’d like to say to Cambridge readers?
JF: Just come and try us – we haven’t closed, as a lot of people think – come and try the Light experience. A lot of people did think we had closed down. Business is climbing back up to the levels were were expecting; with the soft launch we had last week we were very quiet, but that has changed with the website, social media and newspaper coverage.
AJD: So you want to shine the light on them!
JF: I’d love to shine the light on them, and I hope they will have a good experience and come back!