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A Bristol cinema has installed new comfy seats - but they are so high-backed adults are having to use toddler booster seats to see the screen, some film-goers have complained.

The new seats have been installed at screen 12 of the Cineworld in Hengrove - which is not a tiered screening room.

Bosses at Cineworld in Hengrove have acknowledged the problem, and have been offering free tickets to anyone who complains - but disgruntled movie-goers are demanding more action, or at least warnings, to let people know about the problem.

One cinema-goer said after a screening of, ironically enough, Little Women last month, a group of strangers who’d been in the cinema joined together to confront the manager, and said he admitted the seats should not have been installed in that particular screen.

Ingrid Skeels, who went with her daughter Eve, 18, was one of them. She said the situation was ridiculous.

“It was obviously new seats, and those kind that are big with high backs,” she said. “We noticed straight away that the seats in front were really high, and we couldn’t see the screen, or at least all of it.

“My daughter is 5ft 8ins tall, so she’s not small, and even she said she couldn’t see the bottom of the screen even if she was sitting up very straight.

“Then we noticed other people were having the same issue. There were people going off and coming back with those hard plastic booster seats that toddlers use. These were adults using booster seats.

(Image: Dumfries and Galloway Standard)

“People were moving to the end of the rows so they could peer around the seat in front to be able to see the screen. I suddenly thought: ‘Oh my God, this is ridiculous!’ There was a grandmother, daughter and granddaughter there and none of them could see,” she said.

After the film finished, Ingrid and her daughter came out of the cinema and noticed someone complaining to a member of staff, and stopped to join in. She said that soon, pretty much everyone who had been watching the film had formed a group and were berating the manager.

“I felt sorry for him, really, because he explained that it wasn’t his decision to install those seats,” she said.

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“In the end, he did admit it, and said ‘we’ve had a lot of complaints’, and it was obvious it had been like that for a while.

“It was humiliating, really, having adults sitting on booster seats,” she added.

Ingrid followed up her complaint on the night with an email, and was offered two free tickets by Cineworld. She continued her complaint, because she said she wanted things to change.

(Image: Jon Kent/Bristol Live)

“I emailed them three times. The first time they offered free tickets, the second time they replied by saying they are looking into it, working on it, or considering doing something different. Something needs to change - either they need to warn people, or just put seats in that screen that mean you can actually see the film,” she said.

In Cineworld's reply to Ingrid, a spokesperson for Cineworld said a range of options to solve the problem are being considered.

“I can confirm that the management team is considering several options,” she said.

“Please be advised that we cannot reduce the ticket price as all tickets are set at £5.50 as standard.

“The management team is working on a standard customer notice which they are planning to give to the staff in order for them to inform customers when purchasing the tickets. Customers will be informed that in Screen 12, there are high-back and not standard seats. In this way, customers will make a judgment on whether or not they wish to stay as they enter the screen,” she added.

A spokesperson for Cineworld apologised to customers.

“We would like to apologise to the customers whose view was restricted at Cineworld Bristol," she said.

"As part of our investment in improved, more comfortable seating for our customers, we made the decision to install premium seats with no extra charge for visitors.

"Due to the seats having slightly higher backrests, this may have caused visibility to be a problem in this particular screen – no other screens have this issue.

"We are currently investigating this with the seat manufacturer and are working hard to find a solution for customers as soon as possible. Customer comfort and satisfaction remains our top priority," she added.