London's Prince Charles Cinema is saved from closure, signs 25-year lease
Culture won, for once
We have some good news about one of London’s long-standing venues for once — the Prince Charles Cinema has been saved from closure.
The beloved Leicester Square cinema has signed a fresh 25-year lease with its landlords, saving it from becoming luxury flats or something similarly dismal.
“You saved the PCC,” the cinema’s team wrote in an Instagram post.
“The Prince Charles Cinema is thrilled to announce that we have signed a new 25-year lease with no break clause, ensuring our projectors will keep rolling for years to come.”
As we wrote back in August, the issue was about the underlying property’s owner Criterion Capital wanting to put a 6-month break clause in any ongoing lease. That would mean the Prince Charles Cinema could basically be kicked out in relatively short order to let the building be sold off, redeveloped or otherwise transformed.
People power
A campaign was launched by the cinema team, a petition to keep the place alive. It has gathered more than 168,000 signatures.
“Losing The Prince Charles Cinema would mean losing not just an iconic cultural institution, but also an engine for the economy of the West End that brings people from all over London and the surrounding area to watch films, shop and eat and drink,” was the pitch.
The Prince Charles Cinema is currently part of the BFI London Film Festival, holding screenings for all sorts of movies you wouldn’t typically be able to catch at a multiplex.
But, this being October, you can also see loads of horror classics there this month. Today alone there are screenings of I Know What you Did Last Summer, Alien, Halloween/ Halloween II (a double bill) and Halloween H20.
Have a rifle through the cinema’s listings. It’s a proper treasure trove.
The Prince Charles Cinema lets you buy one-off tickets like any other cinema, but there’s also a membership. For £15 a year you get at least £2.50 off tickets, invites to £1 screenings and more. A lifetime standard membership costs £60, which also nets you two complimentary tickets.
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