almost nothing remain of the original decor inside this huge barn of a place, a few parts of the ceiling but very plain and all painted black, it is however on of the busiest london nightclubs and has all the biggest pop acts on stage every saturday night for the G.A.Y club
the lobby areas are all horrible 70/80’s and you stick to the carpet, the lower part of the building is an even more grungy nightclub and hasnt been decorated since 1980 (at least) it recently hosted the premiere party for SPUN and i danced with debbie harry in the vip bar, so for that reason alone it should be saved! however i am all for the redevelopment of the tube station as its the most filthy toilet of a station on the underground, the whole area is scum central
the exterior has been beautifully cleaned and the plaza name is back up, but its crowning glory will be when the dome is revealled from under its current scaffolding, ive been up on the roof and its clad in an amazing blue and gold mosaic wave pattern and the little cuppola should be restored with its paramount logo (mountain with crown of stars)
its such a huge shame its not got its original interior, there were a few fragments of the original plasterwork from the rear of the circle when it closed, i assume these have been removed for safe keeping
This is now The OTHER Cinema, run by the Picturehouse group (from early 2003)check pics at www.picturehouses.co.uk
it has a very strong arthouse, documentary booking policy showing a lot of very specialised titles and some great classic reissues exclusively in the West End, its been refurbished with screen 1 in shades of red with velevt seats (195) and screen 2 has cream leather armchairs (56)
with a bizzare booking policy (attack of the 50ft woman was one of the final nails in the coffin) its no wonder it did such poor business, sadly as a five plex it does a roaring trade…ho hum
The building is currently under reconstruction to be turned into a luxury five screen arts cinema to be run by the picturehouse group,due to reopen in sept 2004 as the greenwich picturehouse
It was such a shame that this place was demolished, the main screen was wonderful, very similar to the Ardwick Apollo down the road, im sure it had an organ when i saw pretty woman there in 1990
screen 2 was a very groovy 70’s affair with an orange colour scheme and funky bucket style velour chairs
during the demolition you could look up through the front windows and see a lot of uncovered 30’s stencil work on the lobby walls
it was demolished after failing a wiring test and was aparently to costly to repair, the land is now an enlarged enterance for the school next door
weblink www.electriccinema.co.uk
this has to be the most wonderful cinema in the world, huge leather armchairs, a bar at the back of the auditorium, all the original plasterwork and a screen that magically folds out of the original square proscenium
this theatre is used for premieres and large epics, it recently hosted the UK premiere of Kill Bill and quentin tarrantino loves this theatre becuase of its superb stadium style main screen which has 1330 seats, second in size only to its neighbour the Odeon leicester sq 1800(ish) seats
of the two i much prefer the Empire which has much more legroom, reclining seats and a much bigger screen
the lobby was redecorated and recarpeted in 2003, lots of gold and red plush with huge leather sofas, the marquee remains rather shabby but it is rumoured that it will be restored in the near future
ps there is no remaining original plasterwork from the auditorium ceiling above the current 60’s one in empire 1 or in sc2 (the former ritz)
who is this nut?
the gate is about to go an extensive refurb May 2004) with new luxury seats, more legroom, a new lobby and exterior signage
i love this theatre, its has such a great atmosphere, it does terrific business showing arthouse and foreign language films and is now run by the Picturehouse group, check out their website for lots of photos of the other amazing cinemas they run www.picturehouses.co.uk
check out the apollo website, they have some artist impressions of the new lobby areas, it remains to be seen how luxurious they really will be for a cramped basement development
Most of the scaffolding has now come down, and the tesco metro supermarket looks ready to open on the ground floor
almost nothing remain of the original decor inside this huge barn of a place, a few parts of the ceiling but very plain and all painted black, it is however on of the busiest london nightclubs and has all the biggest pop acts on stage every saturday night for the G.A.Y club
the lobby areas are all horrible 70/80’s and you stick to the carpet, the lower part of the building is an even more grungy nightclub and hasnt been decorated since 1980 (at least) it recently hosted the premiere party for SPUN and i danced with debbie harry in the vip bar, so for that reason alone it should be saved! however i am all for the redevelopment of the tube station as its the most filthy toilet of a station on the underground, the whole area is scum central
the exterior has been beautifully cleaned and the plaza name is back up, but its crowning glory will be when the dome is revealled from under its current scaffolding, ive been up on the roof and its clad in an amazing blue and gold mosaic wave pattern and the little cuppola should be restored with its paramount logo (mountain with crown of stars)
its such a huge shame its not got its original interior, there were a few fragments of the original plasterwork from the rear of the circle when it closed, i assume these have been removed for safe keeping
This is now The OTHER Cinema, run by the Picturehouse group (from early 2003)check pics at www.picturehouses.co.uk
it has a very strong arthouse, documentary booking policy showing a lot of very specialised titles and some great classic reissues exclusively in the West End, its been refurbished with screen 1 in shades of red with velevt seats (195) and screen 2 has cream leather armchairs (56)
with a bizzare booking policy (attack of the 50ft woman was one of the final nails in the coffin) its no wonder it did such poor business, sadly as a five plex it does a roaring trade…ho hum
The building is currently under reconstruction to be turned into a luxury five screen arts cinema to be run by the picturehouse group,due to reopen in sept 2004 as the greenwich picturehouse
this cinema has now been demolished but the model ship from the frontage has been saved to be incorporated into the replacement building
It was such a shame that this place was demolished, the main screen was wonderful, very similar to the Ardwick Apollo down the road, im sure it had an organ when i saw pretty woman there in 1990
screen 2 was a very groovy 70’s affair with an orange colour scheme and funky bucket style velour chairs
during the demolition you could look up through the front windows and see a lot of uncovered 30’s stencil work on the lobby walls
it was demolished after failing a wiring test and was aparently to costly to repair, the land is now an enlarged enterance for the school next door
hi Chris, sorry my response was aimmed at michael, glad you like the gate
weblink www.electriccinema.co.uk
this has to be the most wonderful cinema in the world, huge leather armchairs, a bar at the back of the auditorium, all the original plasterwork and a screen that magically folds out of the original square proscenium
an article in the local press says there are plans to make this into a spice centre and asian arts venue/museum
this theatre is used for premieres and large epics, it recently hosted the UK premiere of Kill Bill and quentin tarrantino loves this theatre becuase of its superb stadium style main screen which has 1330 seats, second in size only to its neighbour the Odeon leicester sq 1800(ish) seats
of the two i much prefer the Empire which has much more legroom, reclining seats and a much bigger screen
the lobby was redecorated and recarpeted in 2003, lots of gold and red plush with huge leather sofas, the marquee remains rather shabby but it is rumoured that it will be restored in the near future
ps there is no remaining original plasterwork from the auditorium ceiling above the current 60’s one in empire 1 or in sc2 (the former ritz)
very sadly the auditorium has been demolished and flats have been build behind the retained facade
who is this nut?
the gate is about to go an extensive refurb May 2004) with new luxury seats, more legroom, a new lobby and exterior signage
i love this theatre, its has such a great atmosphere, it does terrific business showing arthouse and foreign language films and is now run by the Picturehouse group, check out their website for lots of photos of the other amazing cinemas they run www.picturehouses.co.uk
check out the apollo website, they have some artist impressions of the new lobby areas, it remains to be seen how luxurious they really will be for a cramped basement development
Most of the scaffolding has now come down, and the tesco metro supermarket looks ready to open on the ground floor