Comment: 'If a billionaire landlord closes the Prince Charles Cinema I am going to riot'
Comment: 'If a billionaire landlord closes the Prince Charles Cinema I am going to riot'
Share:
The Prince Charles Cinema is one of the best things about central London. Apart from delicious dim sum in Chinatown and going to the theatre, it’s my main reason for venturing into the hellscape that the area between Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus has become. Now, its landlord could be making moves to earmark its site for renovation.
![[Campaign launched to save London's oldest YMCA from closure]](https://static.standard.co.uk/2024/12/12/12/38/YMCA-London-0wodj6lx.jpeg?crop=8:5,smart&quality=75&auto=webp&width=960)
It’s a stalwart of independent cinema, the only place you can go to see the latest horror film, a hard-to-find overseas release, or a Lord of the Rings movie marathon. Not only is it a much-loved institution that’s been around since the Sixties, it’s a London success story. While cinemas are shuttering in the face of streaming services, the PCC sold over 250,000 tickets to 858 films in 2024 alone.
![['It's intimidation': West End's iconic Prince Charles Cinema fears it could be forced to close amid lease battle]](https://static.standard.co.uk/2024/06/18/21/e2e1730d248e88cc17949384bb51bf49Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzE4ODIwOTA4-2.57535019.jpg?crop=8:5,smart&quality=75&auto=webp&width=960)
But now the PCC is under threat from another London institution: landlordism. The cinema rents its building in the West End, but when the owners applied to renew their lease – something they are automatically entitled to – ahead of the September 2025 deadline, they got a nasty shock.
The PCC claims that the landlord wants to set a rent far above market rate with no supporting evidence for the increase, and is seeking to include a redevelopment break clause. If a break clause is included in the new lease, it would allow the landlord to terminate the rental contract and kick out the PCC at any time.
PCC managing director Ben Freedman said in a statement that, as far as he is concerned, the landlord’s refusal to come to the table and negotiate a new lease for the venue, as well as demanding a redevelopment clause, is a clear indication that the landlord “is not interested in seeing The Prince Charles Cinema continue to thrive”.
