Remember queuing to see “Schindler’s List” here (a day-of-release, Friday night full house) and “My Own Private Idaho” among many others. Its closure heralded the massive cull of Central London cinemas which continues to this day, making the capital a significantly poorer place culturally.
Visited the site a number of weeks ago, sadly unlike the much more recently demolished Cineworld Chelsea the only ‘progress’ seemed to be a wraparound placed on the exterior (presumably by the local council) showing an artist’s impression of the proposed replacement cinema. This will be though a much larger job : there will be a very substantial retail and residential element to the rebuild, though local agitation at the loss of a very popular facility has seen the council announce that the rebuild of the cinema will be a priority. Nearby, up the road in Chiswick, plans to convert the old Rambert Dance Studios to a five-screen cinema have been revived and construction is understood to be in hand, with a possible opening before the end of 2019. It seems that Picturehouse Cinemas are no longer attached, though, and the cinema will be a stand-alone independent.
Update : passed the site on Friday last (08/03/19) and there has been much progress – the replacement building is in an advanced state of construction and if matters continue to move forward at this pace, it should not be long before we know for certain whether or not a replacement cinema is definitely part of the build. A short distance away, the Curzon Chelsea is undergoing demolition, but it is known for certain that a replacement ‘state-of-the-art’ cinema will definitely be present when the building is ready to re-open in exactly three years' time – if on schedule, of course.
Passed the cleared site this week, no indication of whether the building eventually going up in its place will contain the earlier-mooted Everyman Cinema. We will have to wait and see.
Visited this cinema on 12 June and now concerned for its future. Cineworld are currently refurbishing all of their older cinemas, and this has ominously been apparently left off the list. Both the exterior and interiors have a deeply outdated feel. I visited Screen 1 for the first time in years, and the experience was awful : tired, worn seats, appalling sound from old behind-screen speakers and atrocious projection of the main feature – a dull anamorphic image projected onto the unmasked centre of a standard 16:9 ratio screen. Given the potential for massive property profits to be gained from a residential redevelopment of this site, I think the end is nigh. A real pity from many points of view.
Update on this site : tragically, no sooner was this magnificent cinema demolished than the plans to re-develop the area fell through spectacularly. The local council though are going through the planning process again to gain permission for housing and a new four-screen cinema which, unlike the original plans, will be built on the site of the old cinema. Given vocal unhappiness from the near-residents, the new cinema could be built as early as this summer (2018) – but I wouldn’t hold my breath. The Picture House Chiswick plans for the site straight up the road from here have apparently been permanently shelved, adding to the paucity of viewing options in the Chiswick/Hammersmith direction.
Brief Encounter is scheduled for a lengthy run (all the way through to September) so it may well be that something major will happen to this site after that. After this play’s first run here ten years ago – which I visited – Cineworld pretty rapidly re-installed the large screen to Cinema 1 and went back to showing films. However, I get the impression that without the bolstering effect of Cineworld’s Unlimited scheme. this venue has really struggled to attract viable numbers of patrons – even at cheap admission prices. The best that can be hoped for is a major refurbishment of some kind : I sadly would not be amazed by closure, though.
Sad to update that, less than 50 weeks after closure, this wonderful cinema has been demolished – the clearing site is massive, and reminds you just how big this place was. Of all of London’s cinemas, this was personally my most loved, and I estimate having seen a high three-figure sum of films here between 1992 and 2016 having lived in nearby Bayswater between 1995 and 2004 and continuing my journeys there after leaving the area. There has been zero work on the ‘replacement’ Curzon (planned for next door) and much uncertainty about the building of the Picturehouse Chiswick cinema (straight down the road in the old Rambert Dance Studio) so it seems that one cinemaless year on, the local residents will have little to service their filmgoing needs in the short to medium term at least. Ealing all over again, methinks.
Thanks Billy, for the great final gallery. Sad to see it go (forgot how good the two main screens were) and it has the distinction for me of being one of only two places in London where I actually watched a firm in an otherwise empty cinema – a Screen 4 showing of “Daddy’s Dyin, Whose Got The Will” starring Dolly Parton, many years ago.
Going along this afternoon to use my Cineworld card here for the last time. I would echo the concerns of others on here regarding this cinema’s future, the admission prices proposed by Empire are not particularly inviting and even with the benefit of Cineworld’s Unlimited scheme, this has not been a well-filled cinema for many years. I would be very surprised to see them make a success of this place.
Remember queuing to see “Schindler’s List” here (a day-of-release, Friday night full house) and “My Own Private Idaho” among many others. Its closure heralded the massive cull of Central London cinemas which continues to this day, making the capital a significantly poorer place culturally.
Visited the site a number of weeks ago, sadly unlike the much more recently demolished Cineworld Chelsea the only ‘progress’ seemed to be a wraparound placed on the exterior (presumably by the local council) showing an artist’s impression of the proposed replacement cinema. This will be though a much larger job : there will be a very substantial retail and residential element to the rebuild, though local agitation at the loss of a very popular facility has seen the council announce that the rebuild of the cinema will be a priority. Nearby, up the road in Chiswick, plans to convert the old Rambert Dance Studios to a five-screen cinema have been revived and construction is understood to be in hand, with a possible opening before the end of 2019. It seems that Picturehouse Cinemas are no longer attached, though, and the cinema will be a stand-alone independent.
Update : passed the site on Friday last (08/03/19) and there has been much progress – the replacement building is in an advanced state of construction and if matters continue to move forward at this pace, it should not be long before we know for certain whether or not a replacement cinema is definitely part of the build. A short distance away, the Curzon Chelsea is undergoing demolition, but it is known for certain that a replacement ‘state-of-the-art’ cinema will definitely be present when the building is ready to re-open in exactly three years' time – if on schedule, of course.
Passed the cleared site this week, no indication of whether the building eventually going up in its place will contain the earlier-mooted Everyman Cinema. We will have to wait and see.
Visited this cinema on 12 June and now concerned for its future. Cineworld are currently refurbishing all of their older cinemas, and this has ominously been apparently left off the list. Both the exterior and interiors have a deeply outdated feel. I visited Screen 1 for the first time in years, and the experience was awful : tired, worn seats, appalling sound from old behind-screen speakers and atrocious projection of the main feature – a dull anamorphic image projected onto the unmasked centre of a standard 16:9 ratio screen. Given the potential for massive property profits to be gained from a residential redevelopment of this site, I think the end is nigh. A real pity from many points of view.
Update on this site : tragically, no sooner was this magnificent cinema demolished than the plans to re-develop the area fell through spectacularly. The local council though are going through the planning process again to gain permission for housing and a new four-screen cinema which, unlike the original plans, will be built on the site of the old cinema. Given vocal unhappiness from the near-residents, the new cinema could be built as early as this summer (2018) – but I wouldn’t hold my breath. The Picture House Chiswick plans for the site straight up the road from here have apparently been permanently shelved, adding to the paucity of viewing options in the Chiswick/Hammersmith direction.
Brief Encounter is scheduled for a lengthy run (all the way through to September) so it may well be that something major will happen to this site after that. After this play’s first run here ten years ago – which I visited – Cineworld pretty rapidly re-installed the large screen to Cinema 1 and went back to showing films. However, I get the impression that without the bolstering effect of Cineworld’s Unlimited scheme. this venue has really struggled to attract viable numbers of patrons – even at cheap admission prices. The best that can be hoped for is a major refurbishment of some kind : I sadly would not be amazed by closure, though.
Sad to update that, less than 50 weeks after closure, this wonderful cinema has been demolished – the clearing site is massive, and reminds you just how big this place was. Of all of London’s cinemas, this was personally my most loved, and I estimate having seen a high three-figure sum of films here between 1992 and 2016 having lived in nearby Bayswater between 1995 and 2004 and continuing my journeys there after leaving the area. There has been zero work on the ‘replacement’ Curzon (planned for next door) and much uncertainty about the building of the Picturehouse Chiswick cinema (straight down the road in the old Rambert Dance Studio) so it seems that one cinemaless year on, the local residents will have little to service their filmgoing needs in the short to medium term at least. Ealing all over again, methinks.
Thanks Billy, for the great final gallery. Sad to see it go (forgot how good the two main screens were) and it has the distinction for me of being one of only two places in London where I actually watched a firm in an otherwise empty cinema – a Screen 4 showing of “Daddy’s Dyin, Whose Got The Will” starring Dolly Parton, many years ago.
Going along this afternoon to use my Cineworld card here for the last time. I would echo the concerns of others on here regarding this cinema’s future, the admission prices proposed by Empire are not particularly inviting and even with the benefit of Cineworld’s Unlimited scheme, this has not been a well-filled cinema for many years. I would be very surprised to see them make a success of this place.
Just been notified that this cinema will close permanently on 9 March 2017.