Who Is To Blame For Chiswick Not Having A Cinema?
Wall of silence could indicate Picturehouse project is doomed
CGI of the 'Chiswick Lane' Picturehouse plan
With the Picturehouse project on Chiswick High Road seemingly stalled and Curzon’s deal with Ealing Council for a cinema in Acton collapsing the prospect of a modern cinema in the Chiswick area seems more remote than ever.
In an attempt to find out the real reason for the lack of progress ChiswickW4.com has approached all the main parties involved to find out if any hope remains for film fans in W4.
Since gaining planning permission in 2016 for their cinema on the former Ballet Rambert premises, Picturehouse has had little to say about progress and has either given a non-committal response or ignored residents’ requests for an update. Immediately after approval was given Picturehouse let it be known that they were hoping to start showing films in Chiswick by Christmas 2017. When we asked them this week if there was any sort of announcement due we received no response. We therefore asked a local resident who works in the cinema industry if she knew what had happened to the project. Although she had no specific knowledge of Picturehouse’s plans for the Chiswick site she did say that they may have been put off the project by a downturn in the cinema industry.
UK cinema box office admissions have seen strong growth so far this millennium. In the fifties there were over a billion cinema admissions in the UK but this collapsed to 54 million in 2001. With the launch of multiplexes and boutique cinemas like Picturehouse there has been a renaissance in the industry and admissions have more than tripled since then. Receipts have risen even faster with a few blips over the last decade or so due to higher ticket prices and they saw a surge in 2015 with a growth of 17% to £1.2billion. It was in this year that Picturehouse revived the Chiswick project and then submitted a revised plan for the cinema which got approval in 2016. That year also saw the gains in receipts of the previous year sustained but 2017 has been much more difficult for the industry.
Receipts, particularly in London, are thought to have been not as strong as filmgoers have become increasingly resistant to higher ticket prices and much more deal conscious. There has been strong growth in ticket prices since 2010 with the average price nationally rising from £5.44 to £7.41 in 2016 but no rise or even a fall is forecast for 2017. This is likely to have hit Picturehouse much harder with their standard ticket price at around £13. Costs have also been on the rise with a weaker currency meaning that prices in sterling to show films have increased sharply and other key costs such as electricity have also risen. Picturehouse has a specific problem with salaries and there has been a long running dispute with staff at the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton about paying the London Living wage to staff and union recognition. It was assumed in the industry that salaries would generally remain low because the jobs were popular with people who saw free cinema as a significant benefit and therefore were willing to accept relatively poor pay but this seems to be changing. Curzon agreed to pay its staff the independently calculated rate in 2014 after a similar dispute.
We asked Curzon Cinemas about the reason for the collapse of the Acton project but they didn’t respond. It is assumed by people in the industry that they have cooled on projects like this and others because of increased cost pressures. We asked Picturehouse if labour costs were a factor in the delay of the Chiswick project but they didn’t come back to us. The media union BECTU is supporting Picturehouse staff in their demanded for The London living wage hourly wait of £9.75. Picturehouse have claimed in statements made elsewhere that Bectu agreed to a pay rise in September 2016 and that, once breaks were accounted for, front-of-house staff were paid more than the living wage. We asked BECTU if they felt that poor industrial relations were serving to discourage Picturehouse from opening new venues but we have yet to hear from them.
Other issues have also served to make 2017 a less encouraging year for the cinema industry. The emergence of Netflix Originals as the world’s largest film producer, with Amazon Prime also increasing original content significantly has meant there are an increasing number of films being made not for the cinema. Also the anticipated increase in margin from more 3D films has not been as great as expected with many film goers opting for cheaper 2D performances, in the case of a film like Blade Runner 2049 at the recommendation of the director.
The first plan for a new cinema at the Rambert site was put forward for approval in 2014 and gained permission but Picturehouse never proceeded with the plans. Then in 2016 a new plan with the cinema complex remaining the same size as the original application with five screens, seating over 420 people but more space for flats added was submitted. This time the applicant was not Picturehouse but the freeholder of the site, Lochstill Ltd headed by Kim Gottlieb, (the man behind the 'Chiswick Curve' project). Picturehouse was to remain responsible for construction and the operation of the cinema. Local residents had told us that recently tenants in the flats at the site have been moved out leading to some optimism that construction work was about to begin but there doesn’t appear to have been any further activity and other reports suggest the former Rambert premises remain occupied and protected by 'guardians'. Picturehouse and Mr Gottlieb blamed each other for the delay in implementing the previous planning application and there are reports locally that discussions between the two parties have broken down again. We asked Mr Gottlieb if he was aware of the reasons for any delay and we have yet to receive an answer.
Some residents have pointed out that as well as the disappointment of the cinema not opening if the Picturehouse project fails to proceed it will create yet another stretch of the High Road with vacant premises to the detriment of the overall trading environment. Restaurants and shops will have been anticipating increased revenues once the cinema opened but some have not survived long enough to benefit with a number of closures taken place in the area. A suggestion has been made that the Council consider a compulsory purchase order if key landmark buildings are left vacant for too long. We contacted them to see if they would consider this but they have yet to get back to us.
It won’t have escaped anyone’s attention that the principal players in this situation seem very unwilling to talk about it. When the project looked set to proceed they were all very enthusiastic about keeping residents and the media up-to-date with the latest news. Things have changed considerably and it could be out of embarrassment or a reluctance to be the one to give the bad news that a wall of silence has emerged. On the other hand, if you are an optimist you could be persuaded to believe that the various parties' reluctance to talk could mean that we are at a very sensitive stage with just a few details to be finalised before work begins on our new cinema. If so we should hear something very soon, if not it will be a frustrating end to a very long saga.
November 12, 2017
