Chiswick Cinema To Take Court Action On Squatters

Despite setback project head Lyn Goleby tells us cinema 'going ahead'

Open window only evidence of presence of squatters

The Chiswick Cinema head Lyn Goleby has told us that despite negative rumours, the cinema will be going ahead and she remains in charge. A court date of 12 April has now been set to take a civil action on the occupation of the site by squatters who moved into the former Ballet Rambert premises on 17 March, just days before construction work was due to start.

The cinema had hoped to make a public announcement this week to outline developments for the five-screen cinema, with a detailed construction contract negotiated, a price agreed, and a start date planned. The timeline has now had to be revised as contractors have been unable to gain access to the site because of the squatters.

Ms Goleby said that despite the negative rumours about the project there was a lot of logistical work going on in the background which was not publicly visible. Some of the stripping out had already been done inside the building to date. Work on matters such as licensing, party wall agreements, parking bay suspensions, scaffolding licenses and other legal matters had been going on and a pre-construction meeting involving 14 people had gone ahead last week.

There was nothing to be read from her resignation from Trafalgar Cinemas Limited (formerly Jubilacion) She had stepped back from Trafalgar Entertainment Group in April and remained chairman of one of the Trafalgar companies, Trafalgar Releasing (a film distribution company). This left her free to concentrate on the cinema project.

The occupation by an unknown number of squatters came as a complete surprise to the cinema and local people. There had been 'guardians' living on the site for a number of years while it lay vacant. It is believed they had recently left pending the start of construction and security guards had been employed. The squatters apparently moved in during a very short window of about 90 minutes. There is little evidence of the property being occupied apart from some open windows upstairs (see picture above).

Hounslow Council has said that as the land is privately owned it would not be down to the council to intervene in any legal proceedings including eviction – this responsibility is with the landowner.

The Council can assist in an advisory capacity if required, and the council's dedicated policing team has reportedly visited the site to ascertain if there is any immediate risk or criminal activity with continued monitoring taking place.

It is unlikely that the cinema will open until at least 2020. The project has taken several years to get off the ground. Initially this was largely due to difficulties getting agreement between the freeholder of the site and the cinema backers.

Lyn Goleby at the Green Days fete in 2018

Lyn Goleby was one of the founding members of Picturehouse and a previous Managing Director of the Picturehouse chain. She left Picturehouse in 2017 after twenty-five years, to pursue new interests in independent cinema in the UK.

Picturehouse originally bought the 6,500sq ft dance studio site at 96-98 Chiswick High Road from Rambert Dance Company for £1.5 million in 2013. The Picturehouse chain was subsequently acquired by Cineworld and the Chiswick project was taken over by Ms Goleby's company, the former Jubilacion Ltd.

One of the remaining directors of Trafalgar Cinemas Ltd is Dame Rosemary Anne Squire the co-owner and joint chief executive of Trafalgar Entertainment Group Ltd who co-founded The Ambassador Theatre Group. In May 2017 she founded Trafalgar Entertainment Group with Howard Panter and acquired Trafalgar Studios and Picturehouse Cinemas' broadcast and distribution arm Picturehouse Entertainment rebranding it as Trafalgar Releasing.

March 27, 2019