Electric Cinema London: The one-of-a-kind London cinema with velvet sofas and Champagne

One of the things I love most about London is the array of quirky places for a date night.

From adult ball pits to cocktail bars, museums and fancy restaurants, you’ll never be short of ideas in the capital. But sometimes it’s nice to keep things classic, with dinner and a movie.

But this is London, we’re not interested in any ordinary cinema, we like our movies with a little extra spice.

No, not like that you filthy animal! We’re talking about that little something extra that takes this old school date from ‘eh’ to ‘ohhhh yeah!’

Electric Cinema has two venues in London, one in Portobello Road and another in White City. The Portobello Road cinema, is part of London’s exclusive Soho House Group.

The interior is truly unique, maintaining its Edwardian-style features like wood panelling, a domed ceiling, and beautiful red velvet seating, including plush armchairs, sofas, and even beds.

The venue offers a delicious hot food menu, plus cocktails, beer and champagne. There are also classic cinema snacks available from the bar.

The programming reflects a mix of new releases, classics, and indie films, making it a perfect spot for cinephiles and casual moviegoers alike.

It’s more than just a typical cinema – it’s a cultural landmark and an emblem of London’s enduring love affair with the movies (making it the perfect place to star in your very own rom com date night!)

A turbulent timeline of Electric Cinema

Designed by architect Gerald Seymour Valentin on the site of a timber yard, the Electric Cinema Theatre first opened its doors on 27 February 1911.

Kitted out with 564 seats, the theatre showed a 20 minute silent film about Henry VIII starring Sir Herbert Tree.

This film has not been seen since and it is thought to have been trashed, sadly.

Despite the effects of WWII, the Imperial Playhouse, as the Electric Cinema was then known, enjoyed good attendances and box office receipts throughout the 1940s.

But things took a turn for a worse during the 50s when cinema audiences declined.

The Imperial Playhouse fell into disrepute and became known as the local fleapit - somewhere for people to take a nap after the pubs shut after lunchtime.

The cinema continued to run by showing ‘Quota Quickies’ - mandatory British films to help combat the huge output from Hollywood.

Soon the 60s came around and we entered a Golden Age for cinema. In the present day the cinema celebrates London 60s Week, an annual festival showcasing movies from the era like Dr Zhivago and My Fair Lady.

By the late 1960s, the Electric’s reputation as the local flea-pit had firmly set in. A group of film enthusiasts, headed up by the venerable Peter Howden, took over the cinema on Friday and Saturday nights to host Electric Cinema Club nights.

Their screenings were such a screaming success that the then owner asked the Electric Cinema Club to run the place full-time.

The 80s was a turbulent era for the iconic cinema after Peter Howell decided to move to the Everyman Cinema (recognise that name?) in Hampstead. The Electric Cinema eventually closed on October 31 1983 only to reopen five months later as ‘The Electric Screen’.

The new owners revamped the cinema with comfier seats, air conditioning and plush curtains. Staff and locals formed a campaign to save the Electric Cinema from developers in Notting Hill. 10,000 people expressed their support and signed the petition to save London’s oldest purpose built cinema.

Stars who lived nearby including Audrey Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins and Alan Bates supported the campaign which was sadly unsuccessful leading to the cinema’s closure once again in May 1987.

Obviously the cinema wasn’t destroyed during the redevelopment of Portobello Road but the cinema wouldn’t reopen again until the 1990s.

In 1993, The Electric Triangle Partners consortium came together to purchase the site. Consisting of Choice FM and The Voice newspaper, and led by Kwesi Owusu, Paul Bucknor and Mark Mantock, an investment of £1m aimed to turn it into a cultural hub for Black independent cinema in the UK.

Reopening in September 1993, the cinema became a cultural centre for Black cinema and programmed a wide array of first-run titles, as well as championing local talent from the community in Notting Hill.

Following a short period of closure, the cinema reopened in April 2002 as the Electric Cinema, House and Brasserie, an offshoot and first public cinema of the Soho House Group.

The first film showed at the Electric Cinema as we now know it was Hugh Grant rom-com About A Boy (although we think Notting Hill might have been more fitting!)

A major revamp saw Electric Cinema’s interior change once again 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.

Finally, a bespoke screen was installed that highlighted and preserved the beautiful proscenium arch and added a bit more ‘pizzazz to the whole experience’.

Find out more about this epic date night location in London or book tickets by clicking here.