Historic cinema named the best in Wales

The top cinemas in Wales have been ranked and rated with the best cinema being revealed – and it’s the independent picture houses that rate the highest.

According to Tripadvisor reviews Brynamman Public Hall Cinema is the best cinema in Wales, with an impressive average score of 4.62 out of five.

Blackwood’s Maxime Cinema and the Market Hall Cinema in Brynmawr also make up some of the nation’s best cinemas Vue Cinema Carmarthen is the worst-rated nationwide on Tripadvisor, scoring 2.52.

The video production experts at Wonderpunch analysed data from Tripadvisor on 32 cinemas across Wales.

An average rating out of five was calculated for each cinema based on all existing reviews, with an extra 20 three-star reviews added per cinema to help balance the data for locations with fewer reviews. Only cinemas with at least 20 reviews from users were included in the final ranking.

Brynamman Public Hall Cinema came out on top as Wales’s best cinema, according to Tripadvisor. Dating back to the 1920s, the neoclassical cinema has an average rating of 4.62, higher than any other cinema in Wales. It has also gathered 94 five-star reviews, which make up over 90% of all the reviews.

Blackwood’s Maxime Cinema is the second highest-rated nationwide, averaging 4.60 out of five. An independent venue showing wide-release films, Maxime Cinema ranks high thanks to 391 perfect five-star reviews from visitors.

Market Hall Cinema in Brynmawr takes third spot in the study. Wales’ oldest cinema has an average rating of 4.59 based on 101 reviews, 93 of which are five-star.

Colwyn Bay’s Theatr Colwyn and Scala Prestatyn Cinema in Prestatyn also rank high in fourth and fifth. Theatr Colwyn scores 4.41 out of five, while Scala Prestatyn Cinema is slightly lower with 4.34.

The rest of the top 10 highest-rated cinemas are made up of Mwldan, Booth’s Bookshop & Cinema, Cinema & Co.ffee in Swansea, Blaenau Ffestiniog’s Cellb Cinema, and Gwyn Hall in Neath.

Tristan Ramsay, director at Wonderpunch, said, “The study is dominated by Wales’s independent and historic cinemas, suggesting that unique film theatres rich in character and history are valued highly by visitors.

“While major blockbuster releases tend to bring the masses to cinemas, the venues steeped in heritage and with more personality may be what keeps regulars coming back.”

Of all the three largest cinema chains in the UK (Cineworld, Odeon, and Vue), Cineworld – Broughton has the highest average rating (4.10), followed by ODEON Wrexham Eagles Meadow (3.89).

Vue Cinema Carmarthen is the worst-rated nationwide on Tripadvisor, scoring 2.52 based on 125 reviews. Vue Cinema Merthyr Tydfil and Vue Cinema Swansea also rank low with scores of 2.84 and 2.87, respectively.

Source: Tripadvisor

Methodology:
Tripadvisor was scraped for 32 cinemas in Wales.
Each cinema was ranked based on the Bayesian rating.
The Bayesian rating was calculated by adding an extra 20 three-star reviews to each cinema, before working out an average out of five. This method was adopted to balance the data between locations with fewer reviews.
Each cinema was then ranked based on the highest average rating out of five.