Forum Topic

Ealing Project cinema

I paid my first visit there this afternoon and shall certainly be going again. A nice bar area with squashy sofas, comfortable seats in the screens, aircon which is almost too effective and very reasonable prices.A great addition to Ealing's leisure offering.

Susan Kelly ● 1119d25 Comments

Frankly CineWorld is looking more & more unlikely. It’s going into Chapter 11 in the USA and figures for the UK are anything but encouraging.

Bettina Margaret Thwaite ● 1093d

Seems there were a  lot of back door deals and long periods of gamesmanship going on with this development.  The Facade of the Original Cinema was used as a lynchpin to lead everyone to believe this would be the entrance to the new multiplex cinemas.But also the Original  and preserved facade to the Walpole Cinam was going to be returned to Bond Street and utilised as an entrance facade - which I thought was great.That was quietly dropped too.Money talks and so does the politically beneficial horse trading.

Raymond Havelock ● 1094d

What I don't understand is why have you got that huge restaurant where a cinema should be because that was why you were given that gigantic plot ofto use it for apartments and cinema in the front where the other cinema resided

Chrissie Hall ● 1094d

Yes. Watermans, Acton and Ealing Project are all good value. And accessible by public transport. Not so easy if taking elderly relatives or those who cannot use Public Transport.But many of the deals are off peak.  Mainstream Cinemas are quite expensive.Some films are stunning on a proper big screen, again deals are out there but often for concessions or off peak times.  Don't always dovetail with working hours.

Raymond Havelock ● 1113d

As I understand it, PictureHouse is part of CineWorld. According to the City pages this morning although CineWorld is in serious trouble in the US,& may have to go into Chapter 11, there are also big problems over here. Attendance at cinemas have fallen off a cliff partly due to a lack of great films coming out but also due to the popularity of streaming - the comfort of one’s own sofa! As far as Project One is concerned, the low prices are a lead in & are not planned to last.

Bettina Margaret Thwaite ● 1114d

I won't be watching Top Gun on any sort of screen.

Susan Kelly ● 1114d

Raymond, at the moment Ealing Project and ActOne are offering inexpensive tickets and they are easily accessible by public transport. If they are not showing the film you want I paid just over a fiver to see a film at Vue in Shepherd's Bush recently using Meerkat Movies.Susan, you may not like blockbusters but I challenge you not to be thrilled by Top Gun Maverick if you watch it on the big screen. On your TV it will come across as cheesy tosh.

Mark Evans ● 1114d

I would a hundred times rather see a film at the cinema than on TV and don't recognise the 'eye-wateringly expensive' scenario. I mostly pay between £7 and £10 for a ticket and use public transport to get there, except for Waterman's where I pay then £10 a year for parking.There are plenty of 'damn good films' about, blockbusters being the last thing I want to see.

Susan Kelly ● 1114d

It's the US parent of CineWorld UK that is in dire straits, although cinemas are way down in attendance.  A mix of poor films - all the talent has migrated to Netflix and streaming as the budgets have been huge. And pretty expensive to go to the cinema. It's not been a cheap thing for a very.very long time but last few trips have been eye wateringly expensive plus travel costs on top. Hassle of getting there or parking or unreliable transport has made the occasion a bit tedious.It's been so long since there was a decent cinema in Ealing the bond is broken, the habit and default gone.Streaming, good that it is, along with HDR TVs and quality sound may have done what the Video and DVD never quite managed, kill off the Cinema.In a funny way, Video and DVD propagated a wider appreciation of film genres and revived interest in a newer way.  Maybe the same might occur once audiences tire of serials. Most of which are navel gazing dramas, well made, well acted but actually dull and samey ...Maybe.What's really needed is damned good films of all genres and a good gap between cinema release and home viewing means.  And better value.

Raymond Havelock ● 1114d

It was going to be an 8-screen Picturehouse although there has to be a bit of a question mark now with the Cineworld situation. As I understand it the cinema is already built so it is a question of who operates it. Vue is probably the only likely alternative with ODEON just launching in Park Royal and they also have financial problems.The hope would be that, as there is significant embedded cost already the landlord would allow the cinema to operate initially at minimal or no rent until the group is restructured or a buyer emerges. The economics of this industry has really changed with multiplexes much less viable because there are fewer films being made for cinema release. Smaller cinemas like the Ealing Project and ActOne may be viable but they are undercutting the prices Picturehouse would like to charge.The other unknown factor is how many of these flats have been sold. The development doesn't look particularly vibrant and an unused cinema at its centre isn't going to boost sales further.

Mark Evans ● 1114d

I have an idea it's to be a Picturehouse but maybe I dreamed that.

Susan Kelly ● 1114d

Is the old cinema owned by Cine World. If so, then we’d need to hold more than our breaths because the City pages indicate CW is in deep financial trouble.

Bettina Margaret Thwaite ● 1114d

I think the old cinema is still expected to reopen at some point but none of us have been holding our breath on that for 10+ years. When it does eventually open, it may struggle to compete with Ealing Project.

Susan Kelly ● 1114d

I've been nursing a broken laptop for over a week so have to ask the question ''what has become of the ORIGINAL Ealing cinema'' now housed in what appears to be an eastern bazaar?

Peter King ● 1114d

There is the very excellent cinema at the Watermans in Brentford at the bottom of Ealing Road, which has, as well, a superb view over the river from the bar area The added bonus of being very easy to from Ealing by the all electric 65 bus (except in heavy rain when the electrics fail)  with bus stops in both directions right outside. Plus a Car park underneath.Always very eclectic range for films for just about every taste and various concessions.A good screen and sound ( which it did not have years ago but is now as good as the Richmond FilmHouse - now Curzon.It's not the most attractive bit of architecture but it's probably the most underrated and ideal locations serving Ealing, Kew, Chiswick, Brentford, Isleworth very easily.We use it in preference unless it's a film we really want to see and missed it's showing or can't wait or want a really big screen which is only Richmond Odeon now.Like the new place in Acton Library too. Lovely atmosphere.

Raymond Havelock ● 1118d

The ads for, the then 'cutting edge', Indian restuarants used to show a stock restaurant interior and a selection of the same dishes no matter where you were, followed by a dodgy shot of the exterior and a voiceover which was always "only five minutes from this theatre".

N V Brooks ● 1118d

'I do miss the ultra cheesy innuendo packed Pearl and Dean ads for Ealing Music centre and various eateries locally.'I especially remember one for local Indian restaurants showing lots of middle-aged Indian men dancing like Bollywood and talking about Indian 'Coosine'.

Susan Kelly ● 1118d

Chiswick has long seen itself as a cut above other areas. I remember them musing a few years ago whether they could come under the LBE as they thought being part of the LB of Hounslow terribly common & working class. Mind you, Ealing has its darker sides, viz the recent stabbing of Mr O’Hallaran.

Bettina Margaret Thwaite ● 1119d

On the High Road possibly not but two, now former, shop 'owners' of my acquaintance both cited it as a major factor for their decision to pull out. You make a fair point about the economic model but Chiswick had become,among some, a victim of insularity considering itself almost a cut above and using this 'justification' to charge premium prices for what was, in many cases, an average offer no matter whichever 'artisan' or 'exclusive' togs it wore.

N V Brooks ● 1119d

I don't think footfall is necessarily down on Chiswick High Road although I don't go there as often as I used to. There are lots of cafes and most seem to thrive, including for reasons that escape me the ludicrously over-priced Gail's. However I do fear for the new Ole and Steen which is very dark and forbidding and rarely seems to have many customers.I think we should cut some slack to the people who launched the Chiswick Cinema as the project was initiated in very different times and the vision was something along the lines of the Electric in Notting Hill or the Olympic in Barnes. Their ability to pivot to a lower price strategy maybe constrained by the memberships they sold which were predicated on higher ticket prices.

Mark Evans ● 1119d

I do miss the ultra cheesy innuendo packed Pearl and Dean ads for Ealing Music centre and various eateries locally.So crass they were works of art.

Raymond Havelock ● 1119d

One day, the 'bubble will burst in Chiswick."But it's Chiswick dahling" really isn't an excuse any more.Long established traders are being forced out by a combination of higher rents and rates and a reduction is passing trade. 'Locals' simply cannot sustain the sheer number of eateries, as example, and every new opening now appears to be a branch of an 'artisan' supplier either struggling in or moving in from pricier areas.It really is no surprise that some are voting with their feet.

N V Brooks ● 1119d

They did show trailers, which I also enjoy (so long as I haven't already seen them umpteen times) just not adverts.

Susan Kelly ● 1119d

I like ads if they are trailers for forthcoming films.Other than that totally agree with your assessment of the Ealing Project. It is a great addition to the area. We are becoming spoiled for choice. The ActOne is also a brilliant venue and I've also recently been to Watermans and the Riverside Studios - in every case paying less than a tenner to see a film.Although it is nicely designed, I do have some concern for the Chiswick Cinema as it was empty last time I was there. The prices are much higher and the justification seems to be seat comfort but the newly opened cinemas also offer this sometimes at much less than half the price.

Mark Evans ● 1119d

No adverts either. I don't know if that's policy or just that they haven't been going long enough to get the business but it's very welcome.

Susan Kelly ● 1119d