Fulham Road Picturehouse
Fulham Road and Drayton Gardens,
London,
SW10 6SD
Fulham Road and Drayton Gardens,
London,
SW10 6SD
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The Forum is in Kensington, more than a mile from Fulham.The opposite side of the road is in Chelsea. Fulham road starts just north of Putney bridge, running through fulham until Stamford bridge, then along the Kensington, Chelsea border until it meets Brompton road near south Kensington underground station.
Chelsea football ground is on the Kensington Fulham border and actually in Fulham, about 50 yards from Chelsea. Regarding the cinema, the off-licence on the Fulham road elevation was the projection rooms for the original cinema. It was rear stalls and below the circle. It was one of the first cinemas equipped for Cinemascope with the 4 track magnetic sound. Due to the reluctance of the chains to include the new sound systems, the optical track was put back, reducing the ratio from 1:2.55 to 1:2.35. One problem was that magnetic Cinemascope had a true optical center, not offset by the optical soundtrack, thus causing problems for changing from one to the other and for the adverts, newsreel and trailers. Later magnetic prints solved the problem by adding the optical soundtrack and offsetting the optical center to match standard 35mm layout. At the start of 70mm, projectors and sound systems could play 35mm stereo, but distributors did not see the additional costs of recording and striping the prints justified for a few theaters.
Biffaskin: there are establishments at least 7 roads further west which consider themselves in Chelsea. I think the dividing line is the southern end of Brompton Cemetery and the tube railway line.
Surely this should be under Fulham rather than Chelsea?
My friend Ken Roe, who is the volunteer Moderator of this website, and I visited the restored foyer last month of this theater, and we’ve posted photos of the foyer and the restored facade. Great job, Picturehouse!
I worked as a house manager here in the late 80’s and got to know the building very well. I would just like to clarify how it got to its present six screens. In 1974 it was converted to three screens, one in the circle and two in the stalls. In 1975 a fourth screen was added in the upper part of the stage house/fly-tower which was entered from a long corridor down the eastern side of screen one. The new auditorium was entered from the screen end and a projection box built within the old fly-tower on the rear wall. Next to it a staircase, built in the old dock door scenery area, descended to the street. The old stage and dressing rooms became squash courts and offices. In 1977 screen one in the old circle was divided into two, making five screens in total. Later, the squash courts on the old stage were converted into a sixth screen, when a new leisure complex and squash courts were built behind and adjoining the building. Very confusing but this is definitely what happened!
The “Fulham Road Picturehouse is OPEN!” video is also available on YouTube.
Hmm. The foyer/lobby areas are something of a mixed bag. I don’t get this “copper piping” decor… and I wonder what it will look like when it’s not shiny and new?
As for the auditoria, the blue upholstered seating looks very nice and the “legs” (as Terry refers to them) to the sides of certain screens are better than nothing.
However, the wall finishes aren’t obvious from the video, and the “bare” ceilings not only look rough, but need acoustic treatment…
Whatever one might think of the revamped OLS, for example, much effort went into stopping sound from getting in (soundproofing) and stopping sound from bouncing around the auditorium (absorption)—including the cherry veneered wooden panelling (which is actually “perforated” and hides yet more acoustic absorption placed behind.)
It certainly looks like a great deal more effort has gone into the “menu” (and I have no objection to that per se—cinemas certainly need to be “places” rather than simply shuffling patrons in and out of auditoria) rather than the provision of technically excellent standards of presentation, and I can’t imagine paying “premier screen” West End prices to see a film here…
Perhaps Cineworld, with their rollout of laser light source systems, have at least upgraded the projection…?
Another licensed catering establishment with cinemas included for good measure. Seriously though, I suppose this is as good as you are likely to find these days putting aside ‘genuine’ restorations such as the Plaza Stockport, Odyssey St Albans etc.
I don’t know what they think a proscenium arch is but the original ‘pros’,if still in situ, will be concealed behind the subdivision works of 1975 when ABC quadrupled the original theatre.
In screens 1 & 3 there are ‘legs’ at each side of floating screens as opposed to ‘tabs’ (curtains) but at least lip service has been paid in these areas.
I think that if I lived in London I would prefer this venue to most of today’s purpose built multiplexes. The Odeon Theatre Leicester Square, of course, retains the circle/stalls principle (and the Compton organ) which I happen to like – if only they would use their TABS!!
https://www.facebook.com/picturehouses/videos/1049749945357841/UzpfSTY5NzEyODMzNToxMDE1Nzk2ODM5Mzc1MzMzNg/
Just been to Screen 2 – the new seating is fantastic, so much legroom and space, even more so than at Picturehouse Central, and reclining backs also in the first few rows!
They’ve really gone all out on making this look fantastic, if you liked what Odeon did at the OLS this goes to a whole other level. Even the screens themselves are beautifully done up, with detailing and I think even curtains in Screen 3! All feels so much more spacious.
Opening slightly delayed to Sunday, 8th December.
This was my workplace from 2017 to earlier this year, looking forward to seeing the results of the refurbishment!
Official: opening Friday, December 6.
“Opening December 2019” signage now up outside.
Peak adult ticket price to be £16.90 – the same as Picturehouse Central.
Final evening of being a Cineworld was Sunday 6th October 2019, estimated reopening as a Picturehouse sometime in November.
Closes as a Cineworld on 7 October. No details on Picturehouse website as to when it will reopen as a Picturehouse.
There’s a feature in the new Picturehouse Recommends magazine which is at their venues now. Uploaded a couple of preliminary render images of what I presume is screen 4/5 and the foyer/bar areas from the issue.
Other interesting bit – they found original door handles and ironmongery and other artefacts hidden away in the basement so they’re refurbing and reintegrating them in the doors and more. Based on the renders they really are trying to apply the sort of modern art deco look like the new Odeon Leicester Square… Looks quite great so far.
I find it slightly perverse that two screens will be ‘flat’ considering that the majority of films nowadays are in ‘Scope. To me this is not the 'cinema’ experience at all, it is more like watching an extra large TV set where films are letterboxed onto it.
In fact it is worse than a TV set; there you can watch the correct 2.39 image. Here at the cinema, when ‘Scope films are shown 'flat’, some pixels are not displayed on the sides reducing the ratio down to 2.32.
Of all the cinema chains, Cineworld seems the least concerned at showing films properly. It is reported than some of their recent new cinemas have ‘flat’ screens in all auditoria. Quality technical presentation does not seem to be a high priority for them.
Full press release from Picturehouse – https://spotlight.picturehouses.com/uncategorised/introducing-fulham-road-picturehouse/
The planning application to which Zappomatic refers appears to be PP/19/01987.
The architectural practice marked on the documents is “Earle Architects.”
Although the application description mentions external aspects only, plans can be found in the document listed as “EXISTING AND PROPOSED PLANS INCLUDING SITE PLAN.”
(Albeit, not for the basement; the “existing ground floor plan” is marked “SCREEN 6 BELOW — REFER TO BASEMENT PLAN.”)
The document listed as “PLANNING, DESIGN AND ACCESS STATEMENT” includes renderings of the proposed canopy.
Although the “existing” plans appear to have schematic layouts of auditoria seating only, levels are marked, and from this auditoria 1-5 are definitely drawn as restepped, and for auditoria ½, as Zappomatic says, “straightened.”
It also appears that the screens as drawn have been reduced in size (albeit perhaps one should not trust the “existing” plans in this respect.) For auditoria ½, it appears that the screens are have been “straightened,” no long being slanted in. I imagine the projection is proposed to be “boothless,” with ceiling mounted units?
Replacement screens for auditoria 3-5 are ~“scope” ratio, whilst auditoria ½ are ~“flat.”
Alas, I am too tired to continue. Suffice to say that the screens as drawn in Auditoria ¾, with the screen centre being ~70% of the auditorium’s width from the farthest side wall. Above all, with auditoria 2/3 remaining very assymetrical, one side wall of each splayed in—and presumably their (~“flat”) screens will be “floating” with no masking—just too many negative elements.
Without further reconfiguration, there is just no getting past the previous poor quality subdivision, rendering the rebranding exercise nothing if not ironic.
curmudgeon:
Somewhat confused by the latter…?
In relation to the former, the current de facto standard sidewall furnishing is stretched fabric—the leading supplier is Eomac.
European Product Technical Specifications.
As the above-linked document says, typical acoustic cores are up to 75mm of rigid mineral wool slab, although greater depths are available.
(Behind which, typically, is “double wall” plasterboard with more acoustic absorption, in this case being for soundproofing.)
Note that the recommended fabric is “100% Polyester Trevira CS”—a quick Google search leads to one vendor selling such type of fabric product at £62/m (140cm wide)—which equates to £45/sq.m.
Of course, these technical aspects do not account for aesthetic preference (and, indeed, these stretched fabric systems can achieve more elaborate decor than “black box” designs, if desired)—but rather to indicate that these systems are hardly a low-cost option, and that “old” cinema designs, at least as originally built, don’t meet today’s performance requirements in terms of controlling reverberation time within an auditorium, nor acoustic isolation of auditoria.
(Granted, the latter is less of a concern in a single screen venue!)
Photos uploaded of the ABC Fulham Road when it was a ‘proper cinema’ – and, curmudgeon, I agree with all you say…….
Don’t worry Seth. I’m sure the modern day version of ‘refurbishment" will be nothing more than side wall drapery or bare brick/bessamer walls, reduced seating to accommodate reclining seats (to put you to sleep) or even day beds to ensure you enjoy a good sleep for a few hours (Bugger the movie!) while you pay inflated admission prices and are embarrassed into paying 4 x times the price for a fraction of the serve size at a local chippy. Same will apply for a beer or wine, but hey! you’re a special patron. If you manage to stay awake, well, you have the pleasure of a bare screen as you enter the black box auditorium, deathly silence (apart from your fellow audience on their mobile, as no off-synch music is provided from the manager’s office who hopefully will remember to press the start function in your auditorium at the required time. So glad I paid this admission price to sit through 30 minutes of advertisements and trailers that I constantly see on my free-to-air television. Finally, the movie that you’ve actually paid to see begins! But this isn’t a scope print, so why has no masking been employed, or worse still, this is a pseudo 'Scope print being projected onto a 1.85 screen with a huge white strip not being “masked” as the powers-that-be consider masking unnecessary with digital projection. I sometimes wonder why I can’t be bothered going to the movies anymore, and then I remember all of the above.
A necessary refurbishment for the Chelsea art house crowd but will miss the shabbiness of this for a mid-week mid-afternoon trip to the movies
Screen 1 already closed down for renovating! As the email suggested, cinema will operate as normal until October, then they’ll close until November to do the foyers etc. Wonder if we’ll already get to try the ‘new’ screens before the October closure, as well as whether they’ll introduce £5 on the day/in person tickets for Unlimited members like at Central. Would basically make Leicester Square or Wandsworth the only centralish London venues
To do as I mentioned would have been expecting too much, I suppose, Zappomatic but I did think at the time (I was based as an A/M for ABC ‘Up North’)of the initial conversion that it was a very good job they did by retaining the proper circle with the dome, chandelier etc and then I was appalled by the act of vandalism a couple of years later when it was split approximately two thirds and a third.
I had to refrain from laughing at a meeting at ABC Glasgow some years later when I was a full Manager. The Operations Manager told us that , for statistical purposes, ABC Fulham Road was compared with Glasgow. I do not know why as, even after subdivision, screens 1 and 2 at Glasgow seated 970 and 872 unlike the ‘paltry’ capacities at Fulham Road but that’s ‘big business’ for you, I suppose……..