Filmworks Ealing Illustrated Card

£3.25

This card features Filmworks, the newly restored deco old cinema fascia in Ealing created exclusively by Charlotte Berridge.

All my cards are printed on 300gsm recycled card, supplied with a recycled envelope. They are carefully hand packaged in a biodegradable cellophane bag. Each folded card measures approx 105mm wide x 148mm tall.

All cards are blank inside for your own message.

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY ABOUT THIS BUILDING
The Forum Theatre was one of two almost identical Forum Theatre’s built for Herbert Yapp in 1934 (the other is The Forum in Kentish Town) Designed by J. Stanley Beard & Clare both have façades dominated by tall columns with a double row of windows between them. Each theatre seated 2,175 on two levels and each had a large stage with fully equipped fly tower.

The Ealing Forum Theatre was the first to open on 23 April 1934 with Gracie Fields in “Love, Life and Laughter”.

In March 1975 ABC refurbished the theatre as a 3 screen cinema and from December 2006 it came under the ownership of Empire Cinemas. The Empire Cinema was closed on 6th September 2008. The auditorium and foyer areas were demolished in early-2009, and a new 16-screen multiplex cinema for Empire Cinemas was planned to be built behind the original façade.

Despite numerous promises by Empire Cinemas that construction would begin, nothing happened, and in October 2015, Ealing Council passed a compulsorily purchase order on the site. It’s been a very long time coming and despite numerous different plans thankfully the original façade has been retained as the entrance to the Filmworks site. Picturehouse Cinemas is due to open with 8 screens. The new cinema won’t be directly behind the old façade but inside a rather fabulous golden box in the middle of the site. Its now possible to walk through the central area and it seems to be shaping up quite nicely. I for one can’t wait to finally have a cinema on our doorstep!