Chiswick Cinema Gears Up For Opening This Friday

Wait is over as final touches are made to former Rambert Dance premises

The Chiswick Cinema is on course to open to the public on Friday, 25 June, with a line-up of movies that includes In the Heights (directed by Hamilton writer, Lin-Manuel Miranda), Supernova (starring Chiswick-based Colin Firth) and Another Round.

The cinema will start with a reduced capacity in line with Covid-19 regulations.

The Project Director, Lyn Goleby showed Chiswickw4.com around as finishing touches were being put to the interior and said that she intended the Chiswick Cinema to give locals a unique experience.

"It's been a turbulent journey, certainly the most challenging project I have undertaken. It's been refinanced three times, we've had construction delayed due to squatters, and there was the pandemic to cope with, although we were fortunate that construction was still able to continue."

She said it had taken her about fifteen years to see the project to fruition. "I remember at one stage coming to Chiswick to look at other locations, including at one point the Old Fire Station. Despite everything, I knew Chiswick was too good a location to give up on."

Weekend and evening ticket price is £16 with £2 off for Founders and Gold members and £1 off for Classic Members.  Daytime prices are £11.50.

The interior of Screen One

Ms Goleby said the cinema would have a range of offerings for all including a Kids Club, Baby-Friendly screenings and Outreach screening events, including for those living with dementia or autism. They are also planning Dog Friendly screenings. There will also be screenings of operas, art exhibitions and concerts.

The interior has been furnished in a combination of 'jewel' colours of dark reds, peacocks and blues, with a fusion of 1930s style vintage and a modern twist of exposed pipes. There are also displays of black and white photographs from the days of the Rambert Dance Company.

The spectacular Living Wall (above) is by Verti-Grow who control daily irrigation from their base in Brighton.

A downstairs bar/cafe just off the entrance lobby will serve food and drinks to cinema goers and a sample of the menu includes - Black pudding sausage roll, with bbq sauce; Stuffed piquillo peppers with salt cod brandade and mild curry salsa (GF) ; Slow roasted shoulder of lamb croquettes, tzatziki sauce; British Charcuterie board, celeriac remoulade, cornichons.

A sample of the mains include - Tempura smoked haddock, sugar snaps, sweet potato fries and a curry mayo; Chestnut mushroom, truffled mac & cheese ;Crab, avocado, smoked salmon slider, cucumber salad, Hot Dogs, Wagyu Beef Burger, Plant based burger, and Bang Bang salad.

Alcohol can be purchased at the bar/cafe and taken into the cinema and all seats, which are semi reclinable, (slider) are raked for a good sight line of the screen and have a small table attached on which to place food and drink. Popcorn, ice cream and fizzy drinks will also be on sale.

A view onto the High Road from the downstairs bar

The complex contains five screens in total, along with bar and cafe. The larger screens incorporate over 100 seats. Screen Four which has a sixty-seat capacity, will have a 34mm screen for a classic film experience, and there is a private dining room and small cinema room (screen Five) for hire.

The head chef is Redmond Hayward ( Sonny's, Barnes, The Crown Chiswick, Radisson Bloomsbury), a former Michelin star winner. There are various menus for private dining in the members dining room upstairs.

A team of up to twenty people will be employed looking after the digital side of the screenings.

Founder members have already been able to attend screenings prior to the official opening to the public.

The foyer leading into Screen 1

Lyn Goleby is best known as an entrepreneur, taking period buildings and turning them into cinemas, but she did spend some time in her thirties making films.

"I love films, but I was never a fan of the out-of-town retail park cinema experience. I loved the old Odeon on the High Street idea which brings life to the area. In Picturehouse [of which she was co-founder] we focused on acquiring lovely old buildings and refurbishing them into places of entertainment with beautiful interiors".

Lyn Goleby founded Picturehouse in 1989 along with Tony Jones, by buying the Phoenix Cinema in Oxford, and expanding into a chain of arthouse cinemas with over 20 locations across the UK.

The Chiswick project took several years to get off the ground, initially due to difficulties getting agreement between the freeholder of the site and the cinema backers. The agreement was concluded in June 2018. Ms Goleby had left Picturehouse in 2017 after twenty-five years.

The building was at one stage occupied by squatters, in March 2019 who took everyone by surprise when they moved in just after the building's guardians had moved out and construction was poised to start. The pandemic also delayed construction for a short while.

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

Lyn Goleby pictured above

Lyn Goleby once joked that the Chiswick Cinema might be her retirement project, but she has discounted that.

"I will certainly be taking a rest for a while. But I still have a few ideas in mind for other cinema projects that I can't talk about yet."

For cinema news, you can take a look at their Facebook page for updates or follow them on Twitter.

You can read previous stories about the project covered on Chiswickw4.com over the years.

Anne Flaherty

June 26, 2021