Bath mum's shock as Odeon cinema refuses kids entry after 'Minions: The rise of Gru' TikTok trend

A mum from Bath has described her 'atrocious experience' when her child and his friends were refused entry to see the new Minions film.

Clare Harrison dropped off her 12-year-old son Charlie and four of his friends at the Odeon Cinema on James Street in Bath on Saturday 2 July.

The group were hoping to see the 2.30pm showing of 'Minions: The Rise of Gru'.

But the whole group, aged between 11 and 12, was refused entry to the film because one of them was wearing a shirt and tie.

Clare Harrison said: "There were no signs explaining why, and just a security guard telling them to leave, they didn't even get as far as Costa.

"Worst bit was I said to the manager, I’d take the boy with a tie away to get changed and he said ‘we won’t let him back as we’ve seen his face now’."

It comes as a number of cinemas across the country have banned people wearing suits to the new release.

A viral trend on TikTok has seen large groups of teenage boys, who call themselves The Gentleminions, filming each other going to watch the Minions film in formal dress.

When watching the film, the groups of teenagers have reportedly caused havoc. This has resulted in other cinema-goers asking for refunds.

Clare Harrison said: "I went down to speak to the manager. He said to me that they had had some problems over the weekend and they were no longer letting in anyone wearing suits.

"I said to them that they needed to put some signs up. There was one group that was turned away because they were wearing suits.

"But then another group turned up, about the same age, and they were allowed in because they weren't wearing suits. 

"That group was told they would be kicked out if they started messing around.

"It's all down to the TikTok trend. But the TikTok trend is to wear suits, not mess around."

Clare went on to say that she thought the cinema's actions were 'heavy handed'.

She said: "My son has Crohn's and had missed school most of last week but felt well enough to go to cinema with his friends on Saturday and we were so pleased he was feeling up to it.

"There has been TikTok videos of groups causing havoc inside cinemas when watching the film and it is a kid film, young children would be in there too, so I understand the concern but my son and his friends weren't doing that.

"I just found the whole thing absolutely bizarre. It could have been handled so much better, I thought the whole thing was atrocious."

In a statement, Odeon said: “Due to a small number of incidents in our cinemas over the weekend we have had to restrict access in some circumstances."

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