Picture of Picturehouse Central

Picturehouse Central

Cinema in the Trocadero run by the boutique Picturehouse chain, formerly the Cineworld Shaftesbury Avenue until 2014. The entrance is now on Great Windmill Street near the intersection with Shaftesbury Avenue, whereas formerly it could entered from that latter street and from Coventry Street. The formal opening of the new cinema and all its screens is on 19 June 2015, with a week of soft opening preceding this.

Inside all has been overhauled, and now has a spacious cafe on the ground floor by the entrance staircase photo as well as a large restaurant at the top of the staircase photo. The box office (which also sells snacks) is located on this upper level before the escalators photo up to the second floor, where screens 1 and 2 are located photo. There's another floor with toilets above that, and on the fourth floor are the smaller screens 3-7 photo.

The screens themselves are well-equipped, modern black boxes with a rake (steep enough to ensure the heads of those in front aren't an issue) and very comfortable full-height seating as well as plenty of legroom. There's some historical interest to the Arthurian Frieze seen along the main escalator ride up from the lobby level photo, which is explained by a plaque photo.

Finally, there's a bar on the second floor, which can only be accessed by a member (and up to three of their friends) with a cinema ticket for that day. The bar isn't scheduled to open until July or August 2015.

As befits this expensive and thorough refit, the tickets are priced to match comparable West End venues, with the top price being £18, slightly less before 5pm and all day Monday (£13), and significantly reduced prices for documentaries and repertory screenings (£8, at least until the end of 2015).

Accessibility: The website gives full details of accessibility, but all levels and screens are accessible by lifts, with accessible toilets on all floors, and induction loops fitted in all screens for the hearing impaired.

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Last visited by Ewan, June 2015.
OS X co-ord: 529657 OS Y co-ord: 180766 (Latitude: 51.510955 Longitude: -0.132987)
Last edited 2023-09-05 13:36:24 (version 8; diff). List all versions.