I will never, ever pay full-price (currently £9.80 for an adult at Cineworld, and a truly offensive £10.50 for an adult at Odeon) again. For I have been to Riverside Studios, and to quote the hero of a film you’re unlikely to see there, I’ll be back.

Riverside Studios on a summer evening

Riverside Studios is located in deepest, darkest West London… but Easties, I assure you it’s worth the trek. It houses a theatre, a cinema and an actual production studio, as well as a bar and terrace, and the staff treat regulars as favourite guests.

There’s a real community feel to the place, which, call me crazy, I tend to find lacking at the Odeon Leicester Square. What’s more, you can see a movie for well less than a tenner: a double bill is only £7.50.

On a recent visit I took in a gin and tonic on the terrace and the second half of a very art house double bill (Michelle Williams in Wendy and Lucy; moving, but to be completely honest I think it might have been a touch clever for me). Afterwards, my date and I meandered back outside, watched the sun set over the river and then chilled out in the bar – a far cry from the mad exit scrum of your average chain theatre.

Two locals on the terrace at Riverside Studios

The people are a little different, too. Your typical Riverside Studios audience is fairly heavily weighted towards the artsy-filmy end of the cultural spectrum, so efforts to avoid walking in late and chattering throughout the film are bound to be appreciated. But there’s no snobbery about the place – the bar and terrace tend to attract the kind of people who are only too happy to pause and chat with a passer-by (your correspondent included) and the staff are genuinely welcoming.

Sadly, there’s no overpriced pick-and-mix on offer, but the bar is well-stocked and inoffensively priced, with bottled beers around the £3 mark and plenty of snacks for well under a fiver. The dinner menu (which I haven’t yet sampled) looks delicious, with mains between £8 and £14. There’s even a discount loyalty card for cafe regulars.

A quiet night at the Riverside Studios bar

All in, I think Riverside Studios offers not just good value, but a refreshing take on the tired cinema formula. Over the past ten or fifteen years it’s become a soulless, overloud, financially crippling chore of an experience. But Riverside Studios could change all that. Check out what’s on and make it a date.

Technical note: double bills are priced at £7.50 for adults and £6.50 for students, seniors and the unwaged. If you only take in one film, you still pay the full double bill price.

As for my exact savings on this one… I saved £7: £3 on admission and £4 on snacks (my pick-and-mix and pocpcorn habit is a pricey one, and I paid just £4 for sustenance at Riverside).

Riverside Studios

Crisp Road (a ten-minute walk from Hammersmith tube station)

Hammersmith, W6 9RL

Box office: 020 8237 1111