If our council was doing its job right, it would have measured the demand among art-house movie goers in Croydon before closing the David Lean Cinema in the Clocktower arts complex 18 months ago.
For now the Save the David Lean Cinema Campaign has more than 500 members – enough to fill the cinema itself 10 times over – thanks to its regular seasons of well-chosen movies all held in a town centre pub. Hammerson, as part of its £1 billion redevelopment scheme for the Whitgift Centre, is considering an art house cinema as part of its offer.
And tomorrow night marks the opening of another specialist cinema club in the borough.
The South Croydon Community Association, working with the Fushia Indian restaurant on the Brighton Road, is holding its first Classic Film Club upstairs, 7.30pm for an 8pm screening of the acclaimed 1991 Truly, Madly, Deeply, starring Alan Rickman and Juliet Stevenson. Tickets are £3 for all ages: all are welcome, you don’t need to be a SCCA member, or even live in the area to attend.
It’s a most suitable, historic venue: years ago, long before it was the Up The Creek comedy club, the hall (almost opposite Nottingham Road) was the neighbourhood’s cinema.
The Wednesday night screening will be very much a trial run. “Our first showing will be an informal event where you can bring a friend, buy a drink at the bar, and sit and enjoy the film,” Charlotte Davies, the chair of SCCA, said.
“We will be getting a feel for the venue, the licensed bar, and working out what future presentations will be and how we intend to go on.”
A movie followed by a curry? Bollywood screenings can’t be very far away, surely?
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Reminds me of happy Sunday afternoons spent at the old Classic cinema at South Croydon.
I can remember Federico Fellini films and the French films with Fernandel, all with Engilsh sub-titles of course, I think it was back in the 1960s. Anyway good luck with this new enterprise, I’m sure it will be a great success.