‘Film has always been the best form of escapism for me’: Ione Gamble

Peckham has changed since I moved here 12 years ago, but Peckhamplex has remained constant. Its interior is all of my favourite things – tacky pink walls, neon lighting – and is what I imagined an American multiplex would look like when I was a kid, with an old-school counter selling hot dogs and popcorn. So many cinemas have been elevated to an expensive “experience” now, with sofas and posh food and drinks, but the last time I came here the lights flickered during the film and the crowd got raucous. I love that it refuses to conform to a good-taste aesthetic.

Film has always been the best form of escapism for me. I seriously believe it should give people entry-level access to the arts and Peckhamplex, with its cheap tickets, really encourages that. It opens up the world in so many different ways: through the storytelling, but also by opening a portal to an actor you found mesmerising, or a soundtrack you loved. Culture used to feel like a rabbit hole we could disappear down, but that’s much less the case now with algorithms feeding us the next thing we should watch or listen to.

I’m not the type of girl who can do meditation or yoga, or find comfort in nature, but I do sometimes need separation from the busyness of the outside world. Here, it’s dark, you can’t take your phone out and everyone in the room is focusing on the same thing. There’s company amongst the quietness.

The Polyester Book of (Bad) Taste edited by Ione Gamble (Fourth Estate, £18.99). Save 10% at observershop.co.uk. Free UK standard P&P on online orders over £25