Screen gems – Westminster’s cinema heritage

Walking Tour Content

<strong>Westminster has always been the UK’s premiere cinema location. Join this walk to discover the history of cinema in the heart of Westminster.</strong>

In this walk, we shall explore some of Westminster’s cinema heritage with friendly, knowledgeable City of Westminster tour guide, Stephen Benton.

We will discover how moving pictures were first demonstrated in two different theatres in Leicester Square in the late 1890s and we will visit Flicker Alley, a little pedestrian street where many of the British silent movie companies were based in the early 1900s.

We will hear in the 1910s, purpose built movie houses began to get grander and how in the 1920s, developers hedged their bets by having stage facilities as well as a projection room. We shall learn about the small specialist cinemas showing foreign language movies, cartoons and newsreels and how many of these declined into seedy places showing X rated movies before finally closing.

Sadly most of the wonderful interiors of these cinemas no longer exist, but on this walk we may be able to get a peek of a surviving 1920s foyer. And we end up at a pub which started life as a cinema in 1911. But you will certainly get to see the wonderful exteriors and hear the stories associated with these fascinating buildings.

This walk is led by a qualified City of Westminster guide, Stephen Benton. Meet Stephen outside the Criterion Theate, 218-223 Piccadilly, Piccadilly Circus, W1V 9LB (Piccadilly Circus tube exit 4).

This free walk is part of the “Inside Out” programme of walks, kindly supported by Westminster Council.

After the walk we would be very grateful if you could you complete a short survey, with questions about the walk. Thank you.

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Screen gems – Westminster’s cinema heritage

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