Andrew Gray is a Harrogate advocate, entrepreneur and dad. Formerly a solicitor who founded and ran a local law firm, he is chief executive of political tech firm Suffrago and a local content creator.

If Orange Wednesdays offering two-for-one cinema tickets were still a thing, we all know where they’d happen.

The Odeon. Not the Everyman.

That was peak cinema for many of us — especially those of us in our 40s — when mobile phone providers subsidised our cultural lives. Back then, “a night at the pictures” never came with a wine list.

I remember when news broke that Everyman was coming to Harrogate — the modern-day equivalent of getting a Gail’s. After the initial pride that Harrogate was, apparently, sufficiently posh, I did wonder whether we could sustain two awesome cinemas.

This year marks roughly a decade since the ‘new’ cinema opened on the site long associated with Beales (much mourned by some, missed by… fewer). So, in the spirit of a cheeky, mostly affectionate audit, here’s my take.

The buildings: one will outlive us all

First things first: the Odeon is a landmark. Art Deco, opened in 1936, and grade II listed. It’s what cinemas are supposed to look like.

The Everyman, by contrast, is polished — though forgettable — and undeniably a big upgrade to that part of town. But if you asked me which is more likely to still be standing in a century, I’d have to say the one that’s already survived 90 years of everything the town’s planners could throw at it.

Then again, that’s true of most modern buildings in Harrogate.

The pricing: one is ‘family night’, the other is ‘equity release’

Any cinema trip these days makes my cashless wallet twitch. But at £18.15 for an adult ticket at the Everyman — plus an absurd £2.50 online booking fee — it's hardly priced for spontaneity. And that’s before you’ve ordered a G&T.

That said, it does feel like you’re in Manhattan for a couple of hours. Perhaps the price is part of the experience. And yes, the burgers are good enough that you can have a ‘Spielburger’ delivered to your home by Deliveroo.

Meanwhile, over at the Berwins/Odeon roundabout, adult tickets start at £8.95. If my kids are going without me, you can guess which one I let them go to.

The best seats in Harrogate aren’t in a screen

The two best seats in Harrogate might just be the café corner duo at the Everyman, often basking in sunshine, looking up Station Parade, where cars occasionally drag race. Cinemas aren’t supposed to have windows. But this, darlings, is Harrogate.

The coffees, however, are tiny — to the point you wonder if you’ve accidentally ordered an espresso.

The great Everyman mystery

Whatever happened to the person on the front desk? For a few glorious months in 2016, someone acknowledged your arrival. It was a lovely touch.

Now, entering the Everyman feels more like stumbling into a minimalist art gallery. You walk up the stairs past that two-storey still of Sean Connery as Bond — immaculate white shirt, debonair. You know that he’s never had to do the Skipton Road school run. (It was never the six-packs in GQ that shamed us men — it was always Bond.)

Also: what is that secret room behind you as you walk up? Why is it secret? What’s in there? I’ll never know.

The Odeon has proper cinema doors (and a self-checkout)

The Odeon has the kind of doors you have to work out before you use them. But inside, the charm fades a little. Buying a ticket feels like ordering at McDonald’s. The digital screen spits out two bits of paper — one of which might be your ticket, or possibly your receipt. Good luck.

The Odeon is where the film society goes

The Odeon is for proper film buffs. Case in point: Harrogate Film Society uses it. Here, you can go watch something French, in black and white, and pretend you understood it.

But once the credits roll, you’re spat out into a cold, dark car park with nowhere to sit and debate when you first realised Bruce Willis was a ghost all along.

At the Everyman, even late at night, you’re encouraged to linger, decompress, and overanalyse. And the staff look like they’d genuinely join the conversation.

First dates, bad behaviour

I take great pleasure in the knowledge that the Odeon will have been the backdrop for thousands of first dates — in the same way that many Harrogate boys are named after Jimmy’s nightclub…. And if you ever hear talk of “bad behaviour” in a cinema, you know which one it was. But it’s part of the experience.

The Everyman staff: ninjas in black

Staff at both cinemas deserve our admiration. But the Everyman team — who can wear whatever colour they like, as long as it’s black — deserve a special mention for their ninja-like ability to deliver cocktails and burgers in pitch black, without tripping over a single leg.

That said, eating anything more complex than popcorn in the dark is odd. Have I dropped a chip on myself? That, I shall discover later.

And does anyone else think the tables are too small? Order two things and you’re suddenly an air traffic controller managing snack congestion. If the person next to you also ordered something, it’s chaos.

Also: the couches are low. Too low. When drinks are delivered, I brace for a white wine down my shirt. Don’t you think they should raise them? Though, given the chain’s recent profit warning, I won’t hold my breath.

Couches versus gaming chairs

I actually prefer the standard or premier seating at the Odeon. It feels like being strapped into a ride at Lightwater Valley. And that gives them permission to crank the volume — ideal for yet another Marvel blockbuster.

Each time I visit the Everyman, I’m taken aback: they have actual couches in the cinema. But, surely, I’m not the only one who gets public-sofa anxiety? When the film ends, I always find myself awkwardly rummaging between the cushions, only to unearth other people’s forgotten belongings. It’s enough to make me long for my own sofa at home — dog hair, crumbs and all — because at least there, I know whose mess I’m sitting in.

The Odeon story that still makes me sweat

This still haunts me. I once took my kids to see Coco. For our family, we were unusually early.

Me — dad of the year, as I felt — confidently walked us into Screen 4, which was already packed. The trailer for The Greatest Showman was on. There were only three seats left, all separate. So, I did the always-awkward apologising shuffle, planted one child here, one there, and found a seat for myself.

Ten minutes in, I realised something terrible.

We were in the wrong screen.

I extracted them both (“excuse me / sorry / excuse me”) and we finally made it to Coco — 10 minutes late, annoying a whole new set of people. Both kids were furious.

That wouldn’t have happened at the Everyman, of course — those black-clad sherpas would have ushered us to the correct seats and then announced the name of the film, just to make sure we were in the right place.

Everyman: business deals, homework clubs, and the terrace

Only one cinema in Harrogate has hosted a business deal for me — in the sun, on the terrace, in February, over a beer.

Homework clubs, breastfeeding circles, co-working — the Everyman operators have made the space feel more like a social club than a cinema. Credit to them for that.

So… which is “better”?

If there’s going to be applause at the end of a film, it’ll happen at the Odeon — there’s a communal vibe in there. But if you want to make a full night of it — pre-drinks, burgers, mood lighting — the Everyman is the more memorable experience and can make up for a lousy movie.

And I can’t be the only one to have done drinks at the Everyman followed by the film at the Odeon — which is, frankly, the most Harrogate sentence I’ve ever written.

We live in a special place, and we’re lucky to have them both. One has history. The other has olives. Long may they both survive.

What do you think? Tell us in the comment section below.