Historic silver screens from silent to talkies…

In Portobello Road, Notting Hill stands the Electric Cinema. Designed by Gerald Seymour Valentin in an Edwardian Baroque style, it opened in February 1911, writes Claudia Lee.

One of the oldest working film theatres in Britain, it became Britain’s first black-owned cinema in 1993, and remained black-owned until it was sold in 2000.

Supposedly, during the First World War, there were reports that the Electric was surrounded by a mob as they believed the German manager was signalling to Zeppelin airships after bombs fell in nearby Arundel Gardens.

It is also alleged that just after Second World War, the serial killer John Reginald Christie worked as a projectionist in the cinema.

Payroll records for the Electric are lost but a former cinema worker claimed Christie worked alongside him at the cinema.

The Gate also opened in 1911, in a building that had been converted from a restaurant.

Confusingly, The Gate was originally known as the Electric Palace with capacity for 480 people, 280 seated and a further 200 standing.

The floor plan of the cinema remains today, except the foyer previously stretched down the side of the building.

The cinema later became The Embassy, and in 1931 was one of the first British cinemas to convert fully to sound.

The Gate has had periods of closure but is now a successful Art House Cinema and is Grade II listed.

Then there is the Coronet Theatre.

Even today the Coronet combines grand architecture with candlelit hallways, antique décor, stage props and a classic theatre bar.

The Coronet Theatre opened in 1898, a little before the Electric and The Gate.

Guests like Edward VII often visited, and John Gielgud saw his first Shakespeare play here.

In 1923, with the advent of film, it became the Coronet Cinema, right up until 2014 when it was taken over by Anda Winters to start the gradual process of restoring the neglected venue.

One of its most famous features may be its appearance in the film Notting Hill alongside Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant.

All the cinemas have operated through silent, black and white and colour stages of film and continue to serve the community with the latest movies and entertainment.

 

Picture: The Electric Picture: Flickr