CINEMAS

The Barbican

Website: www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/cinema

The Barbican Bad Film Club

B.F.I. Southbank

The British Film Institute (B.F.I.) was founded in 1933. In the late 1940s the body's objectives were changed so that it became focused upon the public appreciation of movies as an art form.

The British Film Institute (B.F.I.) opened the Telekinema cinema on the South Bank as part of the Festival of Britain of 1951. The cinema acted as a showcase for the latest technical developments in cinema. It proved to be so popular with the public that it kept on operating after the event had finished. In 1958 the venue was moved to the site underneath Waterloo Bridge's southern section and its name was changed to the National Film Theatre.

The National Film Theatre was renamed B.F.I. Southbank.

Location: Belvedere Road, SE1 7AF

Website: www.bfi.org.uk

B.F.I. IMAX

The IMAX cinema (1999) at Waterloo was designed by Bryan Avery (1944-2017). To some the building is known as The Beefy Max.

Location: 1 Charlie Chaplin Way, SE1 8XR

Website: www.odeon.co.uk/cinemas/bfi-imax (Since 2012 the facility has been operated by Odeon Cinemas.)

Cine Lumière

Cin Lumière is part of the Institut Fran ais. The cinema shows French, European and world films with English subtitles. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs contributes to the facility's running expenses.

Location: 17 Queensberry Place, SW7 2DT (orange, brown)

Website: www.institut-francais.org.uk/about/about-us/room-hire/cine-lumiere

Cinema Museum

Location: 2 Dugard Way, Renfrew Road, SE11 4TH

Website: www.cinemamuseum.org.uk

Curzon Cinemas

There are Curzon cinemas in Mayfair and Soho.

Website: www.curzon.com

Curzon Richmond Cinema

Location: 3 Water Lane, TW9 1TJ

Website: www.curzon.com/venues/richmond

Artificial Eye

In 1967, at the Knokke film festival in Belgium, Wolf Andi Engel (1942-2006), a fat alcoholic Johnsonian German cinephile, met Pamlea Balfry, an assistant to Richard Roud at the London Film Festival. In 1968 Engel moved to London. The following year he and Balfry married. He continued to work as a film buyer in Germany. In 1976 they set up Artificial Eye to distribute independently-made European movies in the U.K.. The following year Engel and Balfry separated. They continued to work closely until 2006.

In 1977 they acquired the Camden Plaza, in 1982 the Lumiere in St Martin's Lane, in 1983 the Chelsea Cinema, and in 1986 the Renoir. In 1988 Engel directed the movie Melancholia. The cinema business was supported by television sales. In the 1990s the B.B.C. and Channel 4 became less inclined to show subtitled movies. The business therefore became more unstable. In 2003 Engel's health collapsed. Three years later Artificial Eye was sold to the Curzon chain.

The Electric Cinema

The Electric Cinema used to be known as The Bug Ole.

Location: 191 Portobello Road, W11 2ED (orange, turquoise)

Website: www.electriccinema.co.uk

Everyman Cinemas

Website: www.everymancinema.com

The Screen On The ...

In 2008 The Screen On The... chain and The Everyman were owned by Daniel Broch.

Location: The Screen On The Green 83 Upper Street, N1 0NP (orange, blue)

Website: www.everymancinema.com; www.everymancinema.com/screen-on-the-green

Leicester Square's Cinemas

With advent of the Great Depression, this entertainment form faltered. It was capital intensive and its audience was no longer as affluent as they had been. The great Variety Palaces of Leicester Square were all converted into cinemas.

Location: Leicester Square, WC2H 7NG (purple, orange)

The Lexi Cinema

The Lexi Cinema is an 80-seat cinema.

Location: 194B Chamberlayne Road, NW10 3JU

Website: www.thelexicinema.co.uk

The Odeon

In 1920 Oscar Deutsch entered the movie industry by acting as the Midlands agent for a film distribution company. The businessman decided to move downstream in the industry. In 1930 he opened his first Odeon cinema in Birmingham's Perry Barr district; Odeon was an acronym for Otto Deutsch entertains our nation . During the early 1930s Mr Deutsch was careful to build his cinemas in relatively prosperous areas that had growing populations. As a result, his chain was weighted towards the Midlands and the south-east of England. He did not seek to challenge established cinemas or to buy existing chains. By the mid-1930s he had developed his business into one of the principal circuits.

Location: 24-26 Leicester Square, WC2H 7JY. (There is a second Odeon on the western end of the square's southern side.) (purple, turquoise)

257-265 Kensington High Street, W8 6NA. The original building is reputed to have been the basic model for a further 258 Odeons. The present building is flats. The front is a recreation of the original fa ade. ()

Website: www.odeon.co.uk

Shaftesbury Avenue Odeon

The guitarist and vocalist Jimi Hendrix played his first London gig at The Saville Theatre in 1967. The audience contained many of the leading British rock musicians of the day. The Beatles album Sergeant Pepper s Lonely Hearts Band had been released that week. He opened with its first track. This was played conventionally up until the solo. He used it to exhibit his musical prowess. His musical ascendancy was established. When the song finished, he started to retune his guitar, while doing so he called out into the audience to inquire whether Eric Clapton was there. In a weak, shaken voice, Clapton acknowledged that he was. Hendrix asked him if he could help him with his tuning.

Location: 135 Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2H (purple, turquoise)

Phoenix Cinema

Phoenix Cinema (1910) the longest continuously operating cinema in London. The building was remodelled during the 1930s.

The Phoenix in East Finchley used to be The Rex.

Location: 52 High Road, East Finchley, N2 9PJ

Website: www.phoenixcinema.co.uk

Picturehouse

Website: www.picturehouses.com

Balham Picture House

Prior to Lockdown 1 Clapham Picturehouse had a policy of admitting dogs. During screenings the house lights were turned to a very low level of luminescence. Sometimes, dog friendly films, such as Lady & The Tramp (1955) were screened.

Location: 76 Venn Street, SW4 0AT

Website: www.picturehouses.com/cinema/clapham-picturehouse

The Gate

In 1974 David Stone (1932-2011) and his wife Barbara Weintraub acquired the Classic cinema in Notting Hill Gate. They renamed it the Gate. Subsequently, their business ran cinemas in Brunswick Square and Camden Town. The leases of the latter two expired and the Stones sold the Gate in 1986.

Location: 87 Notting Hill Gate, W11 3JZ (orange, blue)

Website: www.picturehouses.com/cinema/the-gate

Greenwich Picturehouse

Location: 180 Greenwich High Road, SE10 8NN

Website: www.picturehouses.com/cinema/greenwich-picturehouse

Ritzy Picturehouse

Location: Brixton Oval, Coldharbour Lane, SW2 1JG

Website: www.picturehouses.com/cinema/the-ritzy

The Prince Charles Cinema

The Prince Charles Cinema tends to screen films that have already had a commercial release. Its seats are cheap by London standards.

For many years the cinema had weekly late-night screenings of The Rocky Horror Show.

Location: 7 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BY (red, turquoise)

See Also: A ROCKY START

Website: www.princecharlescinema.com

Regent Street Cinema

In 1896 what was to become the Regent Street Cinema became the first entertainment venue in Britain to show a film when it presented the Lumi re brothers Cin matographe.

Location: 307 Regent Street, W1B 2HW (blue, orange)

Website: www.regentstreetcinema.com

Rich Mix

Rich Mix is an arts venue and digital media centre that includes three cinemas. The complex opened in 2006 although the organisation was then a decade old.

Location: 34-47 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA (purple, yellow)

Website: https://richmix.org.uk

Rio Cinema

Location: 107 Kingsland High Street, E8 2PB

Website: https://riocinema.org.uk

David Backhouse 2024