MGM Oxford Street

This elegant building located at the Tottenham Court Road end of London’s busy Oxford Street was originally built in the early 1920’s as one the Lyons Corner House restaurant complexes.

The cinema’s were built in the basement of the building and opened on 22nd December 1977 as the 4-screen Classic Oxford Street. "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger" opened the 323 seat Classic 1, "The Hiding Place" opened the 234 seat Classic 2, "Death is Childs Play" opened the 184 seat Classic 3 and "Wizards" opened the 228 seat Classic 4. The entrance to the cinemas was through a narrow door at the extreme left (east side) of the building and had a vertical name sign and a canopy over the entrance. In early 1978 a licenced bar was added for the convenience of patrons.

Classic 5 opened on 23rd August 1979 with only 76 seats and intitially projection in this screen was by 16mm prints.

The Classic generally showed first-run movies, together with all the other first run houses. It was taken over by the Cannon Group in May 1982 and re-named Cannon Oxford Street. In the late 1980’s it was taken over by and re-named MGM. It closed on 11th May 1994 playing 1. "Ace Ventura-Pet Detective", 2. "Deadly Advice", 3. "Backbeat"(matinee)/"Kalifornia"(evening), 4. "My Father the Hero", 5. "The Pelican Brief".

The space was then converted into retail use to expand the Virgin Megastore which occupied the rest of the building. Virgin was re-named Zavvi in early 2008.

Recent comments (view all 6 comments)

Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater