The Galaxy, Luton

I have the dubious pleasure of being a Lutonian, that means I was born and bred in Luton, Bedfordshire and lived there until I was about 25. I no longer live there now for various reasons but have moved not too far away so I still go back to Luton to visit family, friends to go to the shops and also to go to the cinema. There is no cinema in the town where we live so we have a choice of two complexes which are both about 15 miles away, one of them being the Galaxy Centre in Luton which we generally end up going to.

The Galaxy Centre in Luton opened in 1998 and was a welcome dining and entertainment venue as the old cinema in Bury Park had closed down a while before this if I remember rightly and there was not too much to do in the town centre for young people. The Galaxy is fairly small and we really only go there for the cinema although I have been bowling there too and we often have dinner in the Nandos before we watch a film so in that respect it is good but for a night out every week I think you would dget a little bored with this complex.

The cinema in The Galaxy is a Cineworld cinema. I really like this chain of cinemas as I find their website really easy to navigate and it is very easy to book tickets online, find the film you are looking for and the time you want and it is also very easy to collect your pre-paid tickets once you get to the cinema. To reach the cinema in The Galaxy Centre there is a escalator that you take up to the first floor and this leads right out into the cinema lobby area. This area is quite large. The ticket office is to your right and just beside this are the pre-paid ticket machines where you just put your credit card in to get the tickets out that you have already booked. The snack bar is straight ahead of you where they sell the usual snacks such as popcorn, chips, hotdogs etc. The cinema has 11 screens so you can usually find something that you want to watch. The screens are large and roomy and the seats have theatre style seating so every seat is a good one and they are really quite comfortable.

Outside of the cinema, also on the first floor there is a bowling alley. This is a Cosmic bowling alley where you bowl in the dark, well not quite the dark, but the lights are dimmed and you have lights along the length of the lanes as well as lots of cosmic themed lights around the building too to go with the theme of the bowling alley. There are 16 bowling lanes so although it does get quite busy on a Friday and Saturday night you can book to reserve a lane and on week nights you can generally just come in without a reservation although I would always recommend booking. The lanes are wide and there is plenty of seating around them as well s a nice bar with lots of big screen televisions so this is a good venue to watch sport in. Outside of the bowling alley there is also a games arcade where you will find air hockey machines, pool tables, games machines, basketball games etc. You need tokens for this which you can purchase at a coin booth inside the arcade.

There is a Nandos restaurant downstairs in The Galaxy centre which I have eaten at numerous times. Its great for a quick dinner before your film time and the food is always good and easy and they can be quite fast if you don't have much time before your film. There is also a Wetherspoons pub called The White House. Its your typical Wetherspoons pub, not the most classy joint and a bit dodgy on a Saturday night to be honest but if you're just popping in for a quick drink its not too bad.

There is a car park across the street which we park in which is free after 6pm and there are always spaces at this time of night so its a good spot to park. Otherwise there are good transport links into Luton. As this centre is in the middle of town you can walk here easily from the train station or there is a bus stop right outside as well as taxis who pull up right outside too.

The Galaxy is a fun place for a night of fun entertainment.