Electric Cinema

Located in the west London inner city district of Notting Hill. Opened on 24th December 1910 as the Electric Cinema Theatre, this was one of the first buildings in the country to be built for and designed specifically for motion picture exhibition. The small 600-seat (all on one level) cinema was soon dwarfed by the palaces of the 1930’s, but remained open (on and off) until the 1990’s.

In 2001, the Electric Cinema was restored and re-opened after a £2 million facelift. A local resident, Peter Simon, funded the restoration, upgrading the sound and the screen. Seating is now provided in 98 luxurious leather armchairs with adjacent tables and plenty of leg-room and 2 two-seater leather sofas at the rear.

The Electric Cinema was re-opened and is operated by Cityscreen, a small cinema chain that exhibits mostly independent and art house films. It was closed ‘temporarily’ in June 2012, due to smoke damage from a fire in the adjoining restaurant. It re-opened late-November 2012, totally refurbished and equipped with digital 3D projection. It now also has six double sofa beds in the front row.

It is a Grade II* Listed building.