Picturehouse Cinemas
Picturehouse Cinemas is a network of cinemas in the United Kingdom, operated by Picturehouse Cinemas Ltd and owned by Cineworld. The company runs its own film distribution arm, Picturehouse Entertainment, which has released acclaimed films such as David Lowery's A Ghost Story, Sally Potter's The Party and Francis Lee's God's Own Country, Custody, Capernaum and The Wife. A previous iteration of this distribution arm, which focused largely on alternative content, was sold in 2017 to Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire and rebranded as Trafalgar Releasing.
The first cinema in the chain, Phoenix Picturehouse, opened in Oxford in 1989, but many of the others operated independently before then: the Duke of York's Picture House in Brighton, for example, opened in 1910 and is Britain's longest continually operating cinema.
On 17 March 2020 Picturehouse and all other movie cinema companies in the UK temporarily closed their UK theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Locations
Current
| Location | Name | Screens | Notes |
| Ashford | Ashford Picturehouse | 6 | Home to the UK's first laser projector. |
| Bath | Little Theatre Cinema | 2 | |
| Bradford | Picturehouse at the Science + Media Museum | 3 | Includes the first IMAX screen in Europe |
| Brighton | Duke of York's | 1 | Grade II-listed, it opened 22 September 1910 and is Britains' oldest built to be a cinema. It has is a 20 foot sculpture of can-can dancers legs on its top. |
| Brighton | Duke's at Komedia | 2 | |
| Cambridge | Arts Picturehouse | 3 | It opened in 1937, redeveloped in 1972, closed in 1997. Two years late Wetherspoons installed a pub on the ground level, with Arts Picturehouse establishing a 3 screen cinema above it. It holds the annual Cambridge Film Festival. |
| Edinburgh | Cameo | 3 | It originally opened in 1914 as the King's Cinema, acquired sound in 1930, was renamed The Cameo in 1949, and was granted B-listed heritage status in 2006. |
| Exeter | Exeter Picturehouse | 2 | It was designed by Burrell Foley Fischer, opened in 1996 and has a first floor cafe. |
| Henley-on-Thames | Regal | 3 | |
| Liverpool | Picturehouse at FACT | 3 | Has a bar which hosts events. |
| London – Brixton | Ritzy | 5 | |
| London – Bromley | Bromley Picturehouse | 6 | 1936 Art Deco building in style of George Coles, becoming a Picturehouse cinema in June 2019 It has a bar and kitchen. |
| London – Chelsea | Fulham Road Picturehouse | 6 | Opened 8 December 2019. Formerly Cineworld. |
| London – Clapham | Clapham Picturehouse | 4 | |
| London – West Norwood | West Norwood Picturehouse | 4 | |
| London – Crouch End | Crouch End Picturehouse | 5 | Has a restaurant and bar. Its building, Rosebery House, was erected in the 1950s in the late 50s as a factory and office, and refurbished in 2015 by Panter Hudspith. |
| London – East Dulwich | East Dulwich Picturehouse and Café | 3 | |
| London – Greenwich | Greenwich Picturehouse | 5 | |
| London – Hackney Central | Hackney Picturehouse | 6 | |
| London – Notting Hill | The Gate | 1 | |
| London – Piccadilly | Picturehouse Central | 7 | Host venue for Sundance London Film Festival. It has a membership scheme which gives access to a rooftop member's bar. |
| London – Stratford | Stratford Picturehouse | 4 | Host venue for the Sci Fi London Film Festival as well as the Fighting Spirit Film Festival. |
| Norwich | Cinema City | 3 | |
| Oxford | Phoenix | 2 | |
| Southampton | Harbour Lights | 2 | Designed by designed by Burrell Foley Fischer Harbour Lights opened in February 1995, the building received a Civic Trust Commendation, was shortlisted for a RIBA award for architecture, and was shortlisted for the Sunday Times building of the year. The cinema was voted Britain's Best-Loved Independent Cinema Empire Magazine readers in 2000. |
| York | City Screen | 4 |
Former
Planned
Industrial action
In 2014, Cineworld was subject to industrial action owing to its refusal to pay the London living wage to its staff. Started by workers at the Ritzy Cinema, Brixton the resulting Ritzy Living Wage campaign attracted the support of Eric Cantona and Terry Jones.Industrial action resumed in October 2016 over the issue of the Living Wage, as well as recognition of the theatre union BECTU, parental pay and sick pay, and has spread to six Picturehouse cinemas, making it the biggest strike action ever by cinema workers in the UK. Staff at the Ritzy Cinema are represented by BECTU while other cinemas are represented by the Picturehouse Staff Forum, a company union set up by management in 2003 and later run by Picturehouse staff.
Strikes continued into 2018, while Picturehouse state that they are one of the highest payers in the UK cinema industry.