Lower Drayton Farm outdoor cinema offers cinema experience

Lower Drayton Farm in Penkridge has been the venue for the first ever drive-in cinema of its kind to come to Staffordshire, called Alfresco Cinema

More than 1,000 people have come to watch a selection of classic films from the comfort of their own cars, with Pulp Fiction, Cool Runnings, the Avengers and Grease some of the films on offer.

The drive-in cinema was the creation of Nick Ricketts, head of business development for Blue Hire, an events and exhibitions company working in venues such as the NEC and EXCEL.

Nick, who grew up in Penkridge, said the drive-in cinema had come about due to Covid-19 forcing them to change their plans for the year.

He said: "We do exhibitions and events, but with the EXCEL and NEC being used as Nightingale hospitals, it meant we couldn't do our normal exhibitions.

"We had a talk about it and because I'm from Penkridge and I'm fairly well known there, we decided to put the idea of the drive-in cinema forward and see what would happen.

"I spoke to the farmer of the site and he was very receptive to the idea, so we went ahead and organised the four days of the cinema."

Those attending the cinema have been able to enjoy the films on an 18 square meter LED screen, with the sound either coming through the car stereo or through the specially set up speakers.

The facility also had luxury toilets set up and catering onsite to provide those present with hot dogs, pizza, cheese cake, popcorn and a host of other beverages and confectionary.

Nick said he had received some excellent feedback from those who had come to watch a film, saying many had never experienced a drive-in before, but would do it again.

He said: "It's all been a learning process for us as it's the first time we've done something like this, but I'm very pleased with the success of it.

"We're already looking at doing a similar one of these around Halloween, with classic Halloween films, so we have plans to go bigger and better."

The final night on Monday, August 24, will see Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, with a cost of £28 per car.

To find out more and to book tickets, go to alfrescocinema.co.uk