History of the Cinema & the FCCT Campaign
| The Friends of Clapton
Cinematograph Theatre was launched in December 2006 with the aim of preserving and
restoring the historic Clapton Cinematograph Theatre at 229 Lower Clapton Road.
Known to many in recent years as the Palace Pavilion, the building’s modern
frontage hides the facade of the old cinema, which is due to celebrate its
centenary year in 2010.
The Clapton Cinematograph
Theatre dates from 1910 and was designed by George Duckworth, who was also the
architect of the King’s Picture Palace in Kensal Rise (now demolished). In its
early days it combined live music performances with short one-reel silent
films. A 1912 poster advertising the cinema, which is in the possession of
Sutton House Society member Julia Lafferty, announces “A splendid Edison Drama,
entitled At the Point of the Sword” together with “The Famous Banjoists – Miss
Hilda Barry and Mr Harry Stuart”.
| The Clapton Cinematograph
Theatre was one of a number of early cinemas which were established in response
to the Cinematograph Act of 1909, which required film presentations to be shown
under controlled and licensed safety conditions, due to the highly inflammable
nature of nitrate film. Among other cinemas of a similar age are the Electric
Cinema in Portobello Road and the Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley — both Grade
II listed.
Early promotional material
for the cinema shows a highly decorated frontage, to reflect the decorative
mouldings on the adjacent public house, the White Hart (these may still be seen
around the pub’s entrance). The cinema’s original facade is substantially
hidden behind the later additional frontage, but some of the cinemas’s original
mouldings may be seen (though painted black) on the part of the upper original
facade still visible.
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With an elaborately
decorated barrel-vaulted ceiling, the interior of the cinema originally seated
around 750 on one floor with no balcony, though this was later reduced to 700
when it became the Kenning Hall Kinema in 1919. In the late thirties the cinema
was taken over by the Odeon circuit when the extended frontage was added. This
take-over was with a view to eventually demolishing the Kenning Hall and
building a modern Odeon Theatre on the expanded site of the cinema and adjacent
pub. The seating capacity was further reduced to 641 and the name was changed
to Kenning Hall Cinema.
Due to World War II, the
redevelopment never happened and the Kenning Hall soldiered on, remaining one
of the Odeon circuit’s lesser cinemas (ABC had got in first and in
October 1939 built their 1,884 seat Ritz Cinema almost next door. This was
later demolished and replaced with a block of flats). The Kenning Hall was
leased out to an independent operator D Mistlin from March 1958, but finally
closed in June 1979. It lay empty and unused until 1983 when it was converted
into a nightclub called “Dougies”, then renamed the Palace Pavilion. In recent
years, the Palace Pavilion has become the focus for a series of street
shootings which has earned the area the name “Murder Mile”.
After years of campaigning,
the local community finally obtained the support of Hackney Council and the
Police in having the licence of the nightclub withdrawn. With the establishment
of the Friends of Clapton Cinematograph, the goal of having the historic cinema
restored and brought back into use for the benefit of the people of Hackney is
at last a real possibility. The success of this project will create a visual
symbol that the local community have finally succeeded in reclaiming their
neighbourhood from the drug barons and gunmen who have blighted the area for
the last decade. If you have any historical information, photos or memories of the Cinema, please share them with us. |
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