The Electric Cinema

Website: http://www.electriccinema.co.uk

The Electric Cinema sits at number 191 on Notting Hill's Portobello Road. Proclaiming it's presence with a big blue electric "Electric" sign it was something I'd often walked by. I'd heard stories too of what lay inside: "Sofa seats!" and "There's balconies... and a bar!". Well last night I went with my girlfriend ABJ to find out all about it.

The cinema is popular and the films get fully booked sometimes weeks in advance. It's hard to see how this is possible since their on-line booking system doesn't work and it was difficult to get the box office on the phone - obviously this is a Notting Hill cinema for Notting Hill locals. After finally getting the box office to call me back I booked two tickets for Mike Leigh's latest film: "Happy-Go-Lucky".
We turned up for the 9.15pm film time and collected the tickets. The cinema has only one screen but what it lacks in quantity it more than makes up for in quality. Elaborately decorated with Art Nouveau curlicues and golden twirls the cinema hall takes you back to a time when seeing a film was an exclusive affair not for the hoi polloi. The audience's seats are individual plush brown leather armchairs all of which, apart from the front 3 rows, have their own individual brown leather "footstool cube" in front. At the back of the hall on the right is a bar serving beers, wines, spirits and ice cream. At the back on the left are two-seater love-sofas. So the rumours were partially true: there's sofa seats, a bar but no balcony...

ABJ and I were sitting on the front row (the love-seats were all booked up) and, after sinking into our luscious seats, I went off to try to buy a beer. The cinema hall was almost empty but the bar was very busy - mainly with people buying ice cream - so I stood limply at the back of the crowd and wondered if I should bother. There were other people at the bar - the ones getting served beer and ice cream - who looked like they owned half of Notting Hill and, if given the chance, would run you down in their Land Rover.

In the end I decided to switch from beer to ice cream and saw, from the corner of my eye, a uniformed ice cream vendor... I cut away from the crowd and strolled confidently up to the lady with the tray laden with little pots of ice cream. But wait! Is that ice cream? There's a pot of... chips? salad? fried fish? Oh my God! I had to follow through with my actions so I asked the lady (now clearly a hot food vendor) "Do you... sell... ice cream?", "No. That's at the bar..." Well that's that. Not only can you buy alcohol and ice cream but also hot food too. Wow.

I retreated empty-handed to my seat and sat with ABJ spying on the rest of the audience. The hall was starting to fill up now - foppish locals easing themselves into their seats. The lights dimmed. The trailers started. In most cinemas now there's a short film encouraging you to turn off your mobile phone. In the Electric Cinema this short film was star-studded with TV celebrity cameos. Obviously the cinema is popular amongst the rich and famous.

By the time the film started the hall was full. It seemed the regulars were more canny than us - knowing to arrive not at 9.15pm but rather half and hour later. The film was good and the audience, boozed up to the eyeballs, laughed in all the right places.

Summary: Luxurious place for a film, would consider again.