The United Kingdom’s oldest cinema House named as The Electric Cinema in a major city of Birmingham, is reportedly closing down reasonably. The building’s lease is reportedly coming to an gradual end and a building developer may construct a fifty floor residential tower block.
No new film listings remain available from March onwards. The Electric’s website as reported confirmed the news with a sober: “The Electric is now closed.”
Built in a converted taxi garage on Old Station Street, the 115-year-old Art Deco structure is located near the Old Rep Theatre and The Crown pub – known for having hosted Black Sabbath’s inaugural performance.
It happened to be English rock band formed in Birmingham in the year 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music.
The Electric first started screening movies in the year 1909, showing silent films with piano backing. From the thirties, the cinema showed rolling news reels along with short films and cartoons, as details reveal.
Its two screens, decked out with sofas and offering the possibility for cinema goers to order nibbles and drinks from your seat, screened 35 mm films and digital, and even held themed screenings with specifically decorated interiors.
It also said to have been used to offer a shrewdly curated selection of new and older films, providing and patronizing an old-school cinema experience thereby ably maintaining its historical heritage and updating to the technologically advanced modern times. Availability of the films on various refined platforms have more or less restricted film fans to avoid halls.