The Gourmet Picture Company brings gastronomic pop-up cinemas to Marlow and Bath this Christmas

The Gourmet Picture Company – creators of unique culinary cinema experiences – will descend on two southern England locations this festive season with an eclectic programme of classic and Christmas movies, combined with specially created menus from three of the country’s best-loved chefs: Tom Kerridge, Rick Stein and Atul Kochhar.

The Buckinghamshire town of Marlow and historic city of Bath will host the latest instalments of the pop-up film screenings, which take a “night at the flicks” to new gastronomic heights.

The festive screenings follow a sell-out programme of foodie film nights held at Cliveden House in Berkshire and Chewton Glen hotel in Hampshire in June and July, and Marlow’s old town hall in December 2016.

Each pop-up movie theatre will provide the ultimate cosy Christmas escape, replete with the Gourmet Picture Company’s iconic red sofas. Audience members will be served drinks and dishes to individual tables, followed by ice-creams created by Tom’s team at The Hand and Flowers.

The line-up of films, curated from a list of movie favourites from the people of both towns, will include festive flicks, films for children and other classics; with a different movie being shown each night.

Marlow: The pop-up festival

Two magnificent pop-up movie theatres, alongside a host of miniature movie theatres in various unlikely locations – a church, shop and garage included – will be popping up in the Thameside town this Christmas.

From 8^th December to 2^nd January

Screenings will take place at Riley Park, located in Marlow town centre. Tom Kerridge, chef owner of two-Michelin-star The Hand and Flowers and one-Michelin-star The Coach, will be designing the dishes, treating cinemagoers to a taste of his hearty, pub-inspired classics.

From 18^th December to 5^th January

Marlow’s historic Bisham Abbey, once home to Henry VIII, will also open its doors to house the ultimate festive private cinema experiences in its decadent Great Hall and the Warwick Room.

For the first half of the Bisham screenings (18^th-24^th Dec) the audience will enjoy a menu of Indian delights designed by Atul Kochhar, chef patron of eight acclaimed restaurants worldwide, including Sindhu in Marlow and Hawkyns in Amersham.

Rick Stein, famed for his mastery with seafood and restaurant portfolio spanning from Padstow to Australia, will design dishes for the second part of the Bisham Abbey pop-up (30^th Dec – 5^th Jan).

To complete the festival programme, various other Marlow venues will host a series of more intimate screenings including All Saint’s Church, Gatsby Menswear and motor garage Platts as well as Tom Kerridge’s town centre pubs The Coach and The Butcher’s Tap.

Bath: Classic Christmas

All the action will take place from a single, pop-up movie theatre marquee in Bath’s Royal Victoria Park.

From 14^th December to Christmas Eve, the menu served will be designed by Rick Stein.

From 27^th December to 7^th January, dishes from Tom Kerridge will accompany the screenings.

Tom Kerridge, one of the four friends who initially came up with the Gourmet Picture Company concept, said: “From what started as a relatively low-key idea in Marlow, as a fun way to make the best of a beautiful old building, to a year later seeing these cinemas pop-up across the south of England is brilliant. To have Rick and Atul on board is just amazing, and I know they’ve created some absolutely cracking dishes for the screenings this Christmas. The Gourmet Picture Company really is changing the way people enjoy a night out at the cinema and I’m excited to see where we’ll be popping-up next.”

The editorial unit