History of The Electric › 2000's

Film programme

The Electric Cinema exterior › click to zoom

After a few months of closure, the cinema reopened on April 22nd 2002 as the Electric Cinema, House and Brasserie, an offshoot and first public cinema of the Soho House Group. Taking programming style back to the Electric Screen days of the 80's, the cinema planned to show first run features and opened with About A Boy.

Therein the similarities end. The 240 seats were replaced with 98 leather armchairs, some with footstools, and two massive leather sofas at the back of the auditorium. A bar was installed in the cinema serving everything from cocktails to pints of lager to bottles of wine - and not a carton of popcorn in sight! Finally, a bespoke screen was installed that highlighted and preserved the beautiful proscenium arch and added a bit more pizzazz to the whole experience.Designed to be able to show any size of film, from widescreen to TV, the screen kicks off every show by extending beyond the arch and widening to whatever size is needed, right before the audience’s eyes.

The Electric Cinema was to revolutionize cinema-going. With the Soho House ethos of the ‘personal touch’ and quality service as a strong influence, audiences seemed to like this new take on going to the cinema.  The brainchild of Nick Jones, the Electric Cinema did to London cinema what champagne did to wine.