Cinemas

For a small area of London, Notting Hill is in fact home to a fine selection of cinemas. Here’s a list:

Coronet Cinema 
103 Notting Hill Gate, W11 3LB
Website: www.coronet.org
Underground: Notting Hill Gate
Housed in a beautiful grand old building, this cinema makes a change from the usual multiplexes. It is in fact London’s oldest operating cinema – first opened in 1898 (as a theatre), it began showing films in 1916. Showing mainstream films, Tuesdays are half price for everyone all day – that’s a movie for only £3.50! Bargain!

Electric Cinema 
191 Portobello Road, W11 2ED
Website: www.electriccinema.co.uk
Underground: Notting Hill Gate
Refurbished a few years ago to all its former glory, this comfortable cinema (leather seats!) shows a mixture of current box-office hits and older movies. Try to book the one of the two 2-seater sofas for the ultimate viewing experience, and you can “lie down with a bottle of wine” as my colleague once said. They have parent and baby screenings on Mondays.

The Gate Cinema 
87 Notting Hill Gate, W11 3JZ
Website: www.picturehouses.co.uk/site/cinemas/gate/local.htm
Underground: Notting Hill Gate
Beautiful cinema with incredibly comfortable seats in a small but luxurious auditorium. This is what cinema should be like everywhere. Shows a mixture of world film and classics, there’s also a kids’ club on Saturday mornings.

Close to Notting Hill

Odeon Kensington 
High Street Kensington, W8 6NA
Website: www.odeon.co.uk
Underground: High Street Kensington 
6 screens, shows mainstream, big blockbuster movies.

Odeon Whiteleys – The Lounge
Whiteleys, Queensway, W2
Website: www.odeon.co.uk
Underground: Bayswater or Queensway 
A new experience comes to the cinema in Whiteleys (which had been operating since the early 1990s) in 2012 – something called The Lounge. Each screen now has no more than 50 seats which all recline to provide for a very comfortable viewing experience. In addition, food and drink can be ordered whilst you view a film – the special “finger, fork and spoon” menu sees all dishes designed to be eaten easily in the surroundings you’re in. (i.e. No messy stuff to spill over yourself!)

The Lexi Cinema
194b Chamberlayne Road, NW10 3JU
Website: thelexicinema.co.uk
Underground: Kensal Green or Overground: Kensal Rise
Really wonderful cinema, it is run as a social enterprise – 100% of the Lexi Cinema’s profits go towards improving the quality of life for people that live in the village of Lynedoch in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Just north of the Notting Hill area, the Lexi’s screening room is small (in terms of numbers of seats, not screen size!) but very comfortable. There’s a little bar to purchase drinks and nibbles, and staff are very friendly too. This one is highly recommended – do pay it a visit.