A trip to the cinema is the quintessential night out, and London arguably offers a greater number of stylish moviegoing options than anywhere else in the world.
Like the capital itself, many of these cinemas are dripping with historical colour and architectural excellence. So there’s no need to relegate yourself to a mundane multiplex when you have one of these magnificent picture palaces in your neighbourhood.
Regent Street Cinema
The first cinema on our list was, appropriately, the very first in the country – opened in 1848, it has been referred to as “the birthplace of British cinema”. The Regent Street Cinema was originally a theatre but became a cinema in 1896 when it was used to screen a short film by the Lumière Brothers. In doing so, it secured its place in history as being the first venue in the UK to screen a moving image.
It also played an important role in Britain’s military history, training and rehabilitating soldiers injured during the First World War, and broadcasting newsreels during the Second World War. In the aftermath, disabled veterans were retrained as projectionists to work in the cinema, and it became a popular picture palace throughout the 1950s until it closed to the public in the 1980s.
After three decades in the wilderness as a University of Westminster lecture hall, the cinema underwent a £6.1m restoration that returned the Grade II-listed building to its Art Deco grandeur by bringing back its original 1920s features, along with its 1936 John Compton pipe organ. It reopened in 2015 to screen the best of classic, independent and world cinema, and is a welcome proponent of double-bills.
A stone’s throw from our Duke Street, Green Street, Hill Street and Grosvenor Hill properties.
Electric Cinema, Portobello
The Electric Cinema opened on Portobello Road on 24th February 1910, making it one of Britain’s first purpose-built cinemas. Designed by architect Gerald Seymour Valentin in the Edwardian Baroque style, it is another Grade II-listed building, albeit with a somewhat more unsavoury past than our previous entry…
During the First World War – after a bomb was dropped on nearby Arundel Gardens from a Zeppelin – the cinema was attacked by a vigilante mob who believed its German-born manager had been sending secret signals to airships from its roof. Then, in the late 1940s, it is rumoured that British serial killer John Christie – of the local and notorious 10 Rillington Place – worked in the Electric Cinema as a projectionist.
Today, there is no sign of the cinema’s tumultuous past. It is geared entirely towards calming comfort, with every seat a luxurious armchair – apart from in the front row, which is populated with even more luxurious beds.
A short walk from our Garden House property too.
Everyman Screen on the Green
The Screen on the Green – on Islington’s Upper Street – opened in 1913, and is distinctive for its eye-catching red neon facade above a large, archetypal movie theatre canopy that promotes what’s playing and what’s coming soon in a pleasingly retro fashion.
Its relatively cavernous interior boasts a faded grandeur that hints at a rough-and-ready musical past; Screen on the Green is also used as a live venue, and played host to 1977’s legendary, Maclolm Maclaren-orchestrated ‘Midnight Special’ showcase in which Buzzcocks and The Clash supported The Sex Pistols – a night which produced The Clash’s first ever recording.
Ciné Lumière
Just around the corner from our South Kensington residents is the Grade-II listed, Art Deco Institut Francais, housing the gloriously clean and angular Ciné Lumière – named after the brothers whose moving images were first shown at the Regent Street Cinema.
With a focus on contemporary French (of course), European and world cinema – plus French classics on Sundays – the cinema was reopened by French film icon Catherine Deneuve after an extensive refurbishment in 2009. That refurbishment was responsible for installing seating with some of the most extensive legroom in London.
Within walking distance of our Lexham Gardens, Somerset Court and Imperial House properties.
Prince Charles Cinema
Just off Leicester Square, The Prince Charles is a bastion of independent, repertory cinema. It is officially the favourite UK cinema of Quentin Tarantino, who describes it as ‘everything an independent movie theatre should be. For lovers of quality films, this is Mecca.’
The Prince Charles – alongside its admirable dedication to championing cult films – is renowned for the humorous use of its canopy, which has displayed irreverent missives such as “SOD THE SUNSHINE, COME SIT IN THE DARK”, “EVERY TIME YOU TORRENT, GOD KILLS A CINEMA” and, to quote The Italian Job, “HANG ON LADS, I’VE GOT A GREAT IDEA”. It also promoted environmental awareness by screening Al Gore’s global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth weekly throughout 2007.
With an unusual satellite dish-shaped curve to the floor beneath the seats, The Prince Charles has a unique character beyond being the only independent cinema in the West End.
