Screen saver

Notting Hill Gate’s Coronet Cinema is in a state of disrepair. What does its future hold? Pendle Harte asks around

Walking down Notting Hill Gate, what strikes you about your surroundings? Are they well-preserved, appealing, cared-for? Often, people don’t notice. It’s not easy to feel a sense of ownership about the London landscape – it’s too diverse, too busy, too tatty. And Notting Hill Gate itself isn’t prized for its beauty or its architectural significance, but it does have the Coronet, which is Grade II listed by English Heritage. It’s a form of protection that ensures that the building remains unchanged, but it doesn’t guarantee its preservation.
The Coronet has had a rocky history, having survived several different owners and two separate attempts to demolish it altogether. Built originally as a theatre and converted to use as a cinema in 1923, the building is vast and crumbling. In 2004 a flurry of publicity surrounded its sale as various high-profile bidders including Stelios of Easyjet vied for ownership and a campaign raged to retain its use as a cinema. In the end the site was bought by the Elim Church, the organisation behind the Kensington Temple on Kensington Park Road.
Despite local fears that they would attempt to change the building into a church to cater for the overspill of the enormously popular temple, the new owners promised that they had no such intentions and still, four years later, they continue to run the cinema. In 2004, the church released a statement outlining its plans for the site, expressing the intention to invest £1.5m into the building within 18 months. They noted that the signage needed replacing, that essential repairs were needed for the roof and that external decorative features should be restored. But in 2008, the building still looks neglected and apart from necessary repairs to the roof, none of these improvements have been made.
Local campaigner John Scott of the Notting Hill Improvements Group is furious about what he calls “the deplorable state of the Coronet” and has been pursuing the church about the gap between its original undertaking and the current reality. The Royal Borough is responsible for making sure that English Heritage’s preservation requirements are adhered to, and must approve any building plans, but its powers to demand improvements are limited, and it does not have funds to donate.
Still, cinema manager Ron Salomat assures The Hill that the owners are dedicated to restoring the cinema and that they have an extensive scheme in place. “Business is up since we bought it and we are certainly not considering a change of use,” he said. “We are currently working closely with a surveyor and a fundraiser to devise a major programme of improvements,” he said – though he would not reveal any further details, apart from that they would love to have a third screen. At present, large parts of the building are boarded up and unused; some of it is unsafe and any restoration project would involve an enormous amount of work. Salomat agrees that the present signage is unattractive and that a new sign is part of the plan for improvements.
So the future may look bright for the Coronet, if the owners’ mysterious plans materialise. Notting Hill Gate will wait and see. l