Empire Cinema - Ealing
61 New Broadway,
London,
W5 5AH
61 New Broadway,
London,
W5 5AH
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 32 comments
The new Picturehouse actually stands on the footprint of the Walpole and not where the Empire stood which is now retail and apartments
Reopening in Spring 2022 https://www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/ealings-long-awaited-new-cinema-19968800
After a series of delays to the opening of Ealing Filmworks it is now expected to open in spring 2022, the council has confirmed.
Work has been underway to build the New Broadway cinema since 2016, as well as more than 200 homes, a public square and a range of restaurants and bars.
But the opening date has been pushed back several times, first from an ambition for an early 2019, then pushed back to 2020, and fianlley an expected opening in summer 2021.
Ealing Council bosses are now pledging for the finished site to open in spring 2022.
An Ealing Council spokesperson said: “The construction of Filmworks has continued throughout the Covid-19 pandemic despite the challenges of social distancing for the workforce and delays in construction material from the supply chain.
Grand opening ad posted.
Some recent information on plans for this site.
http://www.out-law.com/en/articles/2013/september/plans-lodged-for-100m-ealing-film-quarter/
This link gives an update from Empire, how accurate it is I don’t know but hope they are committed to completing this project and one of my favourite cinemas wasn’t lost in vain.
http://www.empirecinemas.co.uk/index.php?page=cinemainfo&tbx_site_id=22
Alas, Empire Cinemas have still not started work on re-building Ealing’s cinema after closing it nearly 4 years ago for “re-building”. It remains the sad pile of rubble in my avatar photo here.
Ealing residents have started a petition to encourage the council to put pressure on Empire to start work, or to pursue compulsory purchase of the cinema site if Empire won’t start work.
Please could you support the campaign by signing the petition: http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/saveealingcinema
http://www.ealingtoday.co.uk/info/eaempire005.htm
For latest news.
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=72614
This is a link to a British Pathe film about the original building of the cinema. It also contains footage of the side view of the Walpole cinema, which was around the corner.
The original planning approval was dependent on the developers being able to guarantee completion of the project, so this doesn’t surprise me at all. My only concern about the whole thing concerns parking in the Ealing area – becoming virtually non-existent – so where 16 screens worth of punters are going to go is a bit of a puzzle!
Still no progress on this cinema other than the frontage being preserved; apparently the council (who are based in the building opposite) have now demanded a completion date for the work to be done.
View link
If the previous link doesn’t work, follow this one and enter ‘cinema uxbridge road’ into the search area at the top of the page
Whilst trawling through the ealing council website on another matter, I found the following link which refers to the planning consent for the new 16 screen cinema. Most interestingly, it shows exactly how big the new development is going to be.
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It was the best quality periscope projection I’ve ever seen, as it happens, but the nature of the conversion enabled everything to be pretty ‘square-on’, so the geometry was correct right from the start. Also, unlike a lot of periscope projected screens, the distance between the two mirrors was not great, since ABC1 was the former circle, rather than the former stalls. As an aside, Studios 1 & 2 in Guildford – now demolished – used the original projection area, and both had periscopes, even though you could see screen 2 from the box. The bottom mirror of Studio 1’s periscope was immense, with the resultant loss of quality.
does anyone know when it’ll be reopened?
I have uploaded some photos I took today of the Empire.
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Having looked at it again, I think the gaping hole, between the two areas of blue at the bottom of the pic, could well be where the bottom mirror of the periscope was mounted. The screen was still pretty large for a tripled theatre.
If you look at the last of these pics, you can JUST make out the original portholes behind the top of the blue cladding. When the former circle became ABC 1, the screen was raised to ‘circle level’ and a periscope projection system erected to raise the picture, which would otherwise have clipped the roof.
photos taken april 2009
exterior clad in scaffolding
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/3442496747/
close up, you can just see the columns
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distance shot of the rear demolished up to the back wall of the circle
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same shot from the other side
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/3442489541/
close up showing plasterwork detail, that by the look of it was hidden from view
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very little left of the balcony, the square hole in the middle must have been the stairs up to the circle? no sign of where the projection box was, the original must be being the blue cladding?
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Demolition is going very well I think. Frontage looks intact behind scaffolding and everything behind it has now gone. Old frontage of Walpole Picture House (currently in Thames Valley University car park on a wall) is likely to be incorporated in new complex in some way.
Here are three photos taken on 27th March 2009, showing the present state of the site.
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I used to attend Saturday morning pictures in the early 1960’s for 6d a week – that’s 6 old pence for those born post 1971 – at which time the cinema was known as ‘The ABC Forum’, and was signed accordingly. When Virgin took it on for a while, they spent £1M doing it up. I had a holiday job as a projectionist at the Walpole around the corner, and we were always jealous that the ABC operated with 4000ft changeovers, rather than the 2000ft that we had. My wife and I went to see ‘ABBA The Movie’ in screen 1 during a fuel shortage, and were offered a refund if we couldn’t tolerate the extreme cold for the length of the programme. Happy days…………
Demolition photo:
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So, any thoughts on the closure and multiplexing of this site?
A set of five vintage photographs of the ABC in the late-1960’s/early 1970’s:
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My April 11, 2007 photo:
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I saw “Mr. Bean’s Holiday” in the main auditorium upstairs in former balcony. The lobby, upstairs foyer, and main auditorium all were ornate. The auditorum ceiling dome is especially wonderful. Inlaid wood doors are a nice touch. I like curtains, but they did not use a curtain before the movie screen. I hope the interior survives intact with many more movies shown over time.