Huge cinema chain with 100 branches to shut ‘lovely’ site TODAY in an ‘unbearable’ move for fans
A HUGE cinema chain with 100 branches will permanently shutter one of its London branches today.
Picturehouse is set to vacate the premises of its Fulham Road site after nearly five years at the West London site.
The Fulham Road site has been home to a cinema since the 1930s and received a glitzy art-deco style renovation in 2019.
In a post to X, formerly Twitter, Fulham Road Picturehouse said: “We’re very sorry to announce that we’ve made the tough decision to close Fulham Road Picturehouse from Thursday, July 11.
“Between now and then, you can continue to enjoy all we have to offer – we hope to see you soon.”
Fans of the cinema took the news of its closure hard.
One customer said the cinema “had been a big part” of their life and said its exit left them “sad.”
A post from an online Google review read: “I’m quite sad this cinema is closing down. It’s been a large part of my life over the years, living in London. I watched Star Wars: The Phantom Menace here with my dad. Very memorable times.
“It’s a lovely old building. The staff have always been great. It has a luxurious feel inside. I think you should make the most of the cinema before it closes next month. Sad times.”
Another customer praised the “lovely” cinema and spoke highly of the staff.
They said: “Lovely theatre has a lot of the art deco features.
“The seats are very comfortable. The staff are very helpful and friendly. Had problems downloading the actual ticket because my phone is old and I left it to the last minute but it was quickly sorted.”
On, X, another fan said: “Our tiny Picture House in our tiny town has recently reopened and is busy.
“Although, still unbearable that the Fulham Road beauty will no longer be.”
It comes as London film buffs are set for another blow as Picturehouse will also close up its Bromley location in the next few weeks.
The official date for the closure of the southeast London location will be Thursday, August 1, giving fans just a few weeks to visit before it closes for good.
The Bromley cinema first opened as an Oscar Deutsch Odeon Theatre in 1936, been owned by several other chains including a Picturehouse since 2019.
The Bromley cinema posted a similar message to social media, with both sites saying they would be in touch with members soon.
Fans of the Bromley movie theatre were distraught at the loss.
One said: “Absolutely gutted about this as a member. I love the cinema and the great film selection. A lovely oasis for the arts in Bromley in a beautiful building.”
Elsewhere, the owners of Picturehouse have confirmed it will be closing its site in Stratford East on July 29.
But it is not all bad news for lovers of the brand, as in the last six months, Picturehouse has opened three new cinemas in Ealing, Chester and Epsom.
Why are cinemas closing?
A lot of major cinema chains have struggled following the pandemic, as customers got used to streaming films from home.
Big blockbusters such as the Barbie Movie and Oppenheimer drove punters back to the movie theatre last year, but it has not been enough to keep some venues afloat.
Cineworld, the parent company of Picturehouse has also struggled over the past year.
Last week the firm was reported to be eyeing the closure of 25 UK sites as part of a new cost-saving plan.
The chain is also seeking to renegotiate rent agreements for around 50 of its locations.
Struggling businesses often do this to help lower their operating costs and help retain more of their brick-and-mortar estate.
The Sun understands that Cineworld’s creditors and landlords will formally receive the plans in the coming weeks.
At the time, a Cineworld spokesperson told The Sun: “We continue to review our options, but we don’t comment on rumours and speculation.”
It follows the brand’s emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US late last year.
Filing for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy means a company intends to reorganise its debts and assets while remaining in business.
At the time, the future of the chain’s 129 UK and Irish cinemas looked to be at risk.
Elsewhere, Omniplex, Ireland’s largest cinema chain took over five Empire Cinema sites late last year.
It came after the British chain fell into administration, closing six sites with immediate effect.
Seven of the 14 sites remained open, of which five have now been snapped up by Omniplex.
Omniplex, which already operates 38 cinemas on the island of Ireland, said announcements on further openings will be made in 2024.
Why are retailers closing shops?
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun’s business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open. In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when it relocated a tired store in Chesterfield to a new big store in a retail park half a mile away, its sales in the area rose by 103 per cent.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Paperchase to name a few.
What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
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