About this Event
There was a time when every corner of the West End had a cinema. Most are gone now – turned into restaurants, theatres, pubs and casinos. You've probably walked past a dozen without knowing it.
This walk ties in with my new book, An Opinionated Guide to Film London, which includes this route as a self-guided tour. Join me for an in-depth version, with far more stories than I could fit on the page.
We'll take in eleven of my favourite lost cinemas, all within half a mile of Piccadilly Circus. The Plaza on Regent Street hosted one of the great runs of film premieres anywhere in the West End – including a director whose approach to audience discipline was like nothing London cinema had seen. Round the corner in Haymarket, its sister building has a claim to fame that still gets pub quiz teams arguing.
There's the theatre that never closed for a single night through the whole of the Blitz, a cinema empire that went up in flames, and a building on Tottenham Court Road whose very last act as a cinema was to conclude one the greatest trilogies in film history.
If you've already been on one of my tours in the West End, don't worry – this isn't a rerun. Some of the cinemas overlap, but the stories are different.
You can also buy a combo ticket that includes a reduced-price copy of An Opinionated Guide to Film London.
The walk starts outside the Criterion Theatre on Piccadilly Circus and ends at Tottenham Court Road Underground station. Duration approximately two hours.
Event venue & nearby stays
The Criterion Theatre, 218-223 Piccadilly, London, United Kingdom
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.