Curzon Soho

Built on the site of the Shaftesbury Pavilion/Gaumont News Theatre which was destroyed by German bombs during World War II (it has its own page on Cinema Treasures). This cinema is part of an office block named Wingate House on Shaftesbury Avenue, bounded at the corners of Frith Street and Greek Street in London’s West End. Developer Harold Wingate already operated the Curzon Cinema, Mayfair and envisaged this Shaftesbury Avenue cinema to be a sister cinema, to be named Paris Cinema. While under construction Columbia Pictures stepped in to make it the only cinema they ever operated anywhere in the world. At that time, a spokesman for Columbia Pictures stated “due to films haing longer runs it will be more profitable for the company to own its own theatre. The Columbia Cinema opened on 4th February 1959 with Leslie Caron in "Gigi”- an MGM film, which played here for 7-months before transferring to the MGM-Loew’s Ritz Cinema on Leicester Square. It was followed by the Columbia Pictures James Stewart in “Anatomy of a Murder”. Another big hit for Columbia Pictures was Barbra Streisand in “Funny Girl”. James Mason in “Lolita” had a Gala Premiere here in 1962.

The Columbia Cinema was sunk into the basement of the large office block Wingate House and had 734 seats. It had a huge, curved screen for 70mm and Todd-AO presentations. An unusual feature was the curve of the screen which could be altered from 2ft deep for CinemaScope & widescreen films, to 6ft deep for Todd-AO and 70mm films. The auditorium seating was on a single floor and there were (strangely) supporting pillars - although these were down the sides of the auditorium and did not interfere with sightlines. There were two sets of curtains in front of the screen. At ground level and basement level there are very generous sized foyers.

On July 22, 1959 HRH The Princess Margaret attended the Royal Premiere of Columbia Pictures “The Boy and the Bridge” starring Ian Maclaine. On 14th October 1965 the British Premiere of Terrence Stamp in “The Collector” was screened. The British Premiere of “King Rat” was held at the Columbia Cinema on 1st December 1965. In June 1981, a Royal Charity Premiere of “The Competition” starring Richard Dreyfuss & Amy Irving was attended by Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Classic Cinemas chain took over the lease and after some improvements and the installation of Dolby stereo it reopened as the Classic Cinema on 19th August 1982 with Lawrence Monoson in “The Last American Virgin”. Classic/Cannon could not make the cinema pay, and it became the Premiere Cinematheque with an art-house policy in 1984, but this was short lived, and it was closed for refurbishment on 29th November 1984. It was operated by Curzon Cinemas who renamed it Curzon West End when it re-opened on 8th March 1985. They made a big success of the cinema.

Eventually in 1998 it was deemed too large and closed on 11th June 1998 with Liberto Labal in “Live Flesh”. It was sub-divided into a three-screen complex. This was expensively done, to the plans of architectural firm Panter Hudspith Architects and the resulting cinemas - screen 1 with 249 seats uses the original proscenium, with screen 2 (120 seats) and screen 3 (133 seats) side-by side in the rear of the former auditorium. It re-opened as the Curzon Soho on 16th October 1998 with Elodie Bouchez in “The Dreamlife of Angels”, Isabelle Huppert in “Rien ne va Plus”(The Swindle) & Vincent Gallo in “Buffalo 66”. It has lost its 75mm projectors but has retained 35mm capability in screen 1. It remains a popular West End cinema and continues to present a wide choice of independent films. The street entrance now also serves as a café, while the main foyer downstairs also serves as a licence bar.

In December 2014 it was announced that the building was under threat to be demolished for a new entrance for the planned Cross Rail 2 scheme and a campaign to save it was backed by actors Stephen Fry & Benedict Cumberbatch. By 2024, the proposed plans had been scrapped.

Recent comments (view all 15 comments)

scott99 on October 15, 2008 at 9:00 pm

I worked as an usher there for a few months in the late eighties. The management used to run it along the lines of a theatre, and it was always a very highbrow crowd. The auditorum was all in blue, and the seats were extremely comfortable for the time. A shame to see it sliced and diced, though am not suprised. It was rarely very busy, though the new improved version seems to be doing a roaring trade in DVDs and carrot cake!

Ian on February 17, 2010 at 2:56 am

Another photo of the Curzon here:–

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stagedoor/4364914804/

woody on February 15, 2011 at 5:10 pm

press ad from august 1982 when it reopened as the Classic Shaftsbury Ave, with slightly less classy programming than todays
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/5447698533/

Koistinen on May 27, 2013 at 12:22 pm

Exterior, lobby and projection booth photographs from February 2008.

Alan Baker on June 2, 2016 at 10:38 am

The opening film here, Gigi, was not in 70mm. Gigi was in 35mm CinemaScope. The practice of blowing up 35mm to 70mm didn’t begin until 1963 and was initially applied only to Panavision films (that company having devised the process). The problem with doing a long roadshow run of a non-British film is that you would run into quota problems. When Gigi transferred to the Ritz it eventually had to come off because of quota and they actually advertised that that was why its run was ending.

David Rayner on September 4, 2017 at 6:49 am

I have a press photo of child star Ian MacLaine being presented to HRH Princess Margaret at the royal premiere of the Columbia Pictures release “The Boy and The Bridge” on July 22nd, 1959 at the Curzon. Was this the same Curzon that is featured on this page?

popcorn_pete on February 9, 2018 at 10:55 am

Exact opening date 4 February 1959. Renamed Premier in 1984 but closed for refurbishment 29 November 1984. Reopened as the Curzon West End 8 March 1985. It was announced in December 2014 the cinema was under threat from Crossrail 2 project and a campaign to save the cinema was started, backed by Benedict Cumberbatch and Stephen Fry. Two more premieres: the film “Lolita” had a Gala Premiere here in 1962 and “The Competition” had a Royal Charity Premiere here in June 1981 in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

davidcoppock on August 6, 2019 at 2:24 am

Screened the World premiere of tne movie “Dad’s Army” on 12/3/1971.

joeswin on November 18, 2019 at 4:31 am

I have read (in Estates Gazette) that the building has recently been sold and the new owners plan to refurbish the building. The article says they will take a ‘conservationist'approach, so looks like a good future for this cinema.

rivest266 on May 20, 2021 at 10:05 am

Grand opening ad from October 16th, 1998 posted.