Tag: silent films

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.

Regent Street Cinema 5
Regent Street Cinema 5

21 February 1896

The birth of cinema-going in Britain

The first public screenings of the Lumière brothers’ films change entertainment forever.

Regent Street Cinema (1912 —)

Maida Vale Picture House 2

7 March 1913

Kinemacolor in Kilburn

Even before World War I audiences in London were watching films in colour.

Maida Vale Picture House (1913 — 1940)