A woman who wishes to stay anonymous visited Vue in The Brewery Shopping Centre, Romford on March 6 at around 5.20pm to watch a film with her two-year-old son.
She told the Recorder: “I counted four mice around me alone but there were more going down the stairs and behind everyone’s seats in front of me – there was definitely more than four altogether.
“I was right at the back so I moved to the middle to get away from them but they were there in the middle as well.
“When I saw all the mice, I binned my food,” she said.
“It made me feel sick to be honest – I saw them eating crumbs off the floor and I wasn’t sure if they had been on my food.
“It made me feel sick over the thought of feeding my son food that a mouse had ran over.”
She added that she then went to a Vue employee but felt she was “brushed off” and given two free tickets to use within a year.
“I won’t be using them – I won’t be going back to Romford Vue again.
“I’d advise anyone who has children not to go to this cinema because you just don’t know about the hygiene and health and safety there.”
The woman posted her picture and video of the mice on a public Facebook group which gained over 350 comments within 12 hours.
In the caption, she wrote: “There was mice everywhere in the room.
“Can’t say I’ll be returning to the Romford Vue anytime soon!”
She also told the Recorder: “I’ve had over 300 comments on Facebook and a lot of them say that this has happened to other people.
“I go there quite a lot but I’ve never had any problems before but I personally wouldn’t risk it with my son again.”
Another cinemagoer also told the Recorder he had noticed mice running up the wall of the cinema at a screening of Danny Dyer’s new film Marching Powder on Saturday night (March 8).
He said: “For the safety of the general public the matter needs dealing with swiftly and sharply.”
A Vue spokesperson said: “The health and safety of our customers is of great importance to us.
“Since issues at our Romford site came to our attention, we have worked, and continue to work, diligently with our site team, our facilities team and our cleaning contractor to enhance our cleaning and disinfecting processes throughout the site, as well as following advice from our pest control contractor on further measures both throughout the site and in adjoining units.”
A spokesperson for Havering Council said: “We are unaware of any recent complaints regarding rodents in the Vue Cinema Romford, but will arrange for an officer to investigate as soon as possible.
“Residents should report environmental issues on the Council’s website – https://www.havering.gov.uk/environmental-issues.”
