Instead of telling the complete history of London’s cinemas, I’ve chosen to tell a single story that happened at each one.
Many of these are about the films they showed, others are about the famous faces who’ve visited them or the lesser-known people who worked there.
My hope is that as you read the stories and click through the connective links a whole picture of London’s picture palaces emerges.
Scala, King’s Cross (1920—1993)
21 February 1896
The first public screenings of the Lumière brothers’ films change entertainment forever.
Regent Street Cinema (1912 —)
7 March 1913
Even before World War I audiences in London were watching films in colour.
Maida Vale Picture House (1913 — 1940)
3 September 1993
The Indiana Jones and Star Wars star is the guest of honour at the reopening of a classic 1930s cinema.
Warner, Leicester Square (1938 —)
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