226 Cinemas

Do you remember your first cinema experience? Sitting in the dark, alongside the rest of the audience, gripped to the drama unfolding on the big screen.In their peak inter-war period, British cinemas epitomised the glamour of Hollywood. Dramatic facades, dazzling neon and red-carpeted foyers, acted as sirens to the general population. Imagine this situated in a northern industrial town, a beacon of escapism, glowing through the smog and drizzle.Between the industry’s inception in the 1890s and the outbreak of World War II in 1939, nearly 5000 cinemas opened across Britain. Designs and fashions changed, but the desire to create a building that enticed audiences to indulge in the glitz of the silver screen remained constant – successful cinemas radiated as much personality as the celluloid stars on their screens.The late twentieth century saw falling attendances and demolitions. Those buildings that remain are largely considered heritage assets, evidence of a brief period of optimism, innovation and indulgence.Over ten years, photographer Philip Butler has documented the exteriors of our best surviving examples. From the Empire Theatre, Leicester Square (1884) to the Curzon, Mayfair (1966), from elegant Edwardian classicism to sleek Streamline Modernism, 226 Cinemas chronicles Britain’s once insatiable love affair with a night at the flicks.