Kenning Hall Cinema
229 Lower Clapton Road,
London,
E5 8EG
229 Lower Clapton Road,
London,
E5 8EG
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Photographed in July 1983 when it had just opened as Duggies Nightclub:
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Here is a local campaign to try and restore and re-open this cinema
http://www.saveourcinema.org/
After yet another fatal shooting incident at the Palace Pavilion Nightclub, the licence has been revoked and the building closed down in April 2006. Plans are being proposed to demolish the building and adjacent White Hart pub and build housing on the site. Both the local Hackney Historical Society and the Cinema Theatre Association are opposed to these plans, as the building is historic as an early cinema and contains original decorative details within the auditorium.
Here are three photographs taken in May 2006:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/146969376/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/146969653/
Close up of original 1912 detail remaining on the facade:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/146969915/
In the 1960s the Kenning Hall was one of those cinemas you visited to see obscure horror films and revivals of older pictures. On a visit to this quaint little hall one really cold and snowy winter’s day in the 1960s, I was puzzled to see the handful of patrons huddled in little groups next to the walls. The reason soon became apparent – they were desparately trying to get some warmth from the half dozen radiators, which were totally inadequate to heat a building of even that modest size. I was a fanatical film fan and would travel all over London to catch a rare movie, but the cold defeated me and I had to walk out before contracting frostbite in my toes – the first, and last, time I have ever done such a thing.